THE POLITICAL 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL 




OXFORD : 

PRINTED BY D. A. TAEBOYS, 

FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. 

1840. 






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POLITICA 

OF 

D E V 



/ / OF 



AS WELL 

ANCIENT AS MODE. 
IN TWO PARTS. 

Part I. 

Containing a State of the Devil's Circumstances, and 
the various Turns of his Affairs, from his Expulsion 
out of Heaven, to the Creation of Man; with Remarks 
on the several Mistakes concerning the Reason and 
Manner of his Fall. 

Also his Proceedings with Mankind ever since Adam, 
to the first planting of the Christian Religion in the 
world. 

Part II. 

Containing his more private Conduct, down to the pre- 
sent times : His Government, his Appearances, his 
Manner of Working, and the Tools he works with. 



Bad as he is, the Devil may be abus'd, 
Be falsely charg'd, and causelessly accused, 
Wlien Men unwilling to be blarrtd alone, 
Shift off those Crimes on Him which are their Own. 

LONDON: 

Printed for T. Warner, at the Black Boy in 
Pater-noster Row, 1726. 



^c H, * 




AS CONCERNING A 



DEDICATION, 



It is not the easiest thing in the case before me to de- 
termine who has the most right to a dedication of this 
work. 

Ancient usage would have directed a solemn author 
to address these sheets to the great Majesty of Heaven, 
in congratulation of his glorious victory over the Devil 
and his angels; but I decline that method as profane. 

The same reason forbids me addressing to Him who 
conquered him on earth, and who when the Devil was 
so insolent as to assault him, made him fly like a van- 
quished rebel, with but the word, Get thee behind me. 

I had then some thoughts of inscribing it to Satan 
himself, but I did not really know how to relish hold- 
ing a parley with the Devil, and talking to him in the 
first person ; nay, and as it were, making all my readers 
do so too; and besides, as I knew there was so very little 
in the whole work that Satan would be pleased with, 
I was loath to compliment him, while I was exposing 
him ; which would be to imitate the very hypocrisy by 
which he is distinguished, and you might say, I played 
the devil with the Devil. 

These difficulties presenting, I think the giving my 
reasons for the making no dedication, is dedication 
enough. 



xAn. cV e^L* t-^ a 



TT7 

THE CONTENTS 



// . v/7,.^ lv'^^C ^W^tA/«^u 



PART I. 



Page 

Chap. I. Being an introduction to the whole work - 1 

Chap. II. Of the word ' devil,' as it is a proper name to 

the Devil, and any or all his host, angels, &c. 17 

Chap. III. Of the original of the Devil, who he is, what 
he was before his expulsion out of heaven, and 
in what state he was from that time to the 
creation of man ------ 29 

Chap. IV. Of the name of the Devil, his original, and 
the nature of his circumstances since he has 
been called by that name - - - - 35 

Chap. V. Of the station Satan had in heaven before he 
fell ; the nature and original of his crime, and 
some of Mr. Milton's mistakes about it - - 58 

Chap. VI. What became of the Devil and his host of 
fallen spirits after their being expelled from 
heaven, and his wandering condition till the 
creation ; with some more of Mr. Milton's ab- 
surdities on that subject - - - - 70 

Chap. VII. Of the number of Satan's host ; how they 
came first to know of the new created worlds 
now in being, and their measures with man- 
kind upon the discovery - - - - 78 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Page 

Chap. VIII. Of the power of the Devil at the time of 
the creation of this world ; whether it has not 
been further straitened and limited since that 
time, and what shifts and stratagems he is 
obliged to make use of to compass his de- 
signs upon mankind - - - - - 86 

Chap. IX. Of the progress of Satan in carrying on his 
conquest over mankind, from the fall of Eve to 
the Deluge 101 

Chap. X. Of the Devil's second kingdom, and how he 
got footing in the renewed world by his victory 
over Noah and his race - - - 118 

Chap. XI. Of God's calling a church out of the midst of 
a degenerate world, and of Satan's new mea- 
sures upon that incident : how he attacked them 
immediately, and his success in those attacks 14.5 

PART IL 

Chap. I. Introduction - - - - - -175 

Chap. II. Of Hell, as it is represented to us, and how 
the Devil is to be understood as being person- 
ally in Hell, when, at the same time, we find 
him at liberty, ranging over the world - - 188 

Chap. III. Of the manner of Satan's acting and carry- 
ing on his affairs in this world, and particularly 
of his ordinary workings in the dark, by pos- 
session and agitation - - - - - 197 



Chap. IV. Of Satan's agents or missionaries, and their 
actings upon and in the minds of men in his 
name -------- 



•207 






CONTENTS. Xlll 

Page. 

Chap. V. Of the DeviPs management in the Pagan 
hierarchy by omens, entrails, augurs, oracles, 
and such-like pageantry of hell ; and how they 
went off the stage, at last, by the introduction 
of true religion - - - - . - 224 

Chap. VI. Of the extraordinary appearances of the 

Devil, and particularly of the cloven foot - 242 

Chap. VII. Whether is most hurtful to the world, the 
Devil walking about without his cloven foot, 
or the cloven foot walking about without the 
Devil? ------- 258 

Chap. VIII. Of the cloven^foot walking about the 
without the Devil, viz. of witches making bar- 
gains for the Devil, and particularly of selling 
the soul to the Devil - - - - - 289 

Chap. IX. Of the tools the Devil works with, viz. 
witches, wizards or warlocks, conjurers, magi- 
cians, diviners, astrologers, interpreters of 
dreams, tellers of fortunes ; and, above all the 
rest, his particular modern privy-councillors, 
called wits and fools - - - - -310 

Chap. X. Of the various methods the Devil takes to 

converse with mankind - - - 322 

Chap. XI. Of divination, sorcery, the black art, pawaw- 
ing, and such-like pretenders to devilism, and 
how far the Devil is or is not concerned in 
them -------- 345 

The Conclusion. Of the Devil's last scene of liberty, 
and what may be supposed to be his end, with 
what we are to understand of his being tor- 
mented for ever and ever - 369 




THE POLITICAL HISTORY 
OF THE DEVIL. 



CHAP. I. 

Being an Introduction to the whole work. 

I doubt not but the title of this book will amuse some 
of my reading friends a little at first ; they will make 
a pause, perhaps, as they do at a witch's prayer, and be 
some time a resolving whether they had best look into 
it or no, lest they should really raise the Devil by 
reading his story. 

Children and old women have told themselves so 
many frightful things of the Devil, and have formed 
ideas of him in their minds, in so many horrible and 
monstrous shapes, that really it were enough to fright 
the Devil himself to meet himself in the dark, dressed 
up in the several figures which imagination has formed 
for him in the minds of men ; and, as for themselves, 
I cannot think by any means that the Devil would 
terrify them half so much if they were to converse 
face to face with him. 

It must certainly therefore be a most useful under- 
taking to give the true history of this tyrant of the air, 
this god of the world, this terror and aversion of 

H. D. B 



Z THE POLITICAL 

mankind, which we call Devil ; to show what he is, 
and what he is not ; where he is, and where he is not ; 
when he is in us, and when he is not ; for I cannot 
doubt but that the Devil is really and bona fide in a 
great many of our honest weak-headed friends, when 
they themselves know nothing of the matter. 

Nor is the work so difficult as some may imagine. 
The Devil's history is not so hard to come at as it 
seems to be ; his original and the first rise of his family 
is upon record ; and as for his conduct, he has acted 
indeed in the dark, as to method, in many things, but 
in general, as cunning as he is, he has been fool 
enough to expose himself in some of the most con- 
siderable transactions of his life, and has not shown 
himself a politician at all. Our old friend, Machiavel, 
outdid him in many things, and I may in the process 
of this work give an account of several of the sons of 
Adam, and some societies of them too, who have out- 
witted the Devil ; nay, who have out-sinned the Devil, 
and that I think may be called out-shooting him in his 
own bow. 

It may perhaps be expected of me in this history, 
that since I seem inclined to speak favourably of 
Satan, to do him justice, and to write his story im- 
partially, I should take some pains to tell you what 
religion he is of; and even this part may not be so 
much a jest, as at first sight you may take it to be ; for 
Satan has something of religion in him, I assure you ; 
nor is he such an unprofitable Devil that way, as some 
may suppose him to be ; for though, in reverence to 
my brethren, I will not reckon him among the clergy ; 
yet I cannot deny but that he often preaches, and if it 
be not profitably to his hearers, it is as much their 
fault, as it is out of his design. 

It has indeed been suggested that he has taken 
orders, and that a certain pope, famous for being an 
extraordinary favourite of his, gave him both institu- 
tion and induction ; but as this is not upon record, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 3 

and therefore we have no authentic document for the 
probation, I shall not affirm it for a truth, for I would 
not slander the Devil. 

It is said also, and I am apt to believe it, that he 
was very familiar with that holy father, pope Silvester II., 
and some charge him with personating pope Hildebrand 
the infamous, on an extraordinary occasion, and him- 
self sitting in the chair apostolic, in a full congrega- 
tion ; and you may hear more of this hereafter : but 
as I do not meet with pope Diabolus among the list, 
in all father Platina's Lives of the Popes, so I am 
willing to leave it as I find it. 

But to speak to the point, and a nice point it is I 
acknowledge ; namely, what religion the devil is of; 
my answer will indeed be general, yet not at all 
ambiguous, for I love to speak positively and with un- 
doubted evidence. 

1. He is a believer. And if, in saying so, it should 
follow that even the Devil has more religion than some 
of our men of fame can at this time be charged with, 

I hope my lord and his grace the of 

and some of the upper class in the redhot club, will 
not wear the coat, however well it may sit to their 
shapes, or challenge the satire, as if it were pointed at 
them, because it is due to them, in a word, whatever 
their lordships are, 1 can assure them that the Devil is 
no infidel. 

2. He fears God. We have such abundant evidence 
of this in sacred history, that if I were not at present, 
in common with a few others, talking to an infidel sort 
of gentlemen, with whom those remote things called 
Scriptures, are not allowed in evidence, I might say it 
were sufficiently proved ; but I doubt not in the pro- 
cess of this undertaking to show, that the Devil really 
fears God, and that after another manner than ever he 
feared St. Francis or St. Dunstan ; and if that be 
proved, as I take upon me to advance, I shall leave it 
to judgment, who is the better Christian, the Devil who 

b2 



4 THE POLITICAL 

believes and trembles, or our modern gentry of 1- 

who believe neither God nor Devil. 

Having thus brought the Devil within the pale, I 
shall leave him among you for the present ; not but 
that I may examine in its order who has the best claim 
to his brotherhood, the papists or the protestants, and 
among the latter the Lutherans or the Calvinists, and 
so descending to all the several denominations of 
churches, see who has less of the Devil in them, and 
who more ; and whether less, or more, the Devil has 
not a seat in every synagogue, a pew in every church, 
a place in every pulpit y and a vote in every synod ; 
even from the sanhedrim of the Jews, to our friends at 
the Bull and Mouth, &c, from the greatest to the least. 

It will. I confess, come very much within the com- 
pass of this part of my discourse, to give an account, 
or at least make an essay towards it, of the share the 
Devil has had in the spreading religion in the world, 
and especially of dividing and subdividing opinions in 
religion ; perhaps, to eke it out and make it reach the 
further ; and also to show how far he is or has made 
himself a missionary of the famous clan de propaganda 
fide ; it is true, we find him heartily employed in al- 
most every corner of the world ad propagandum 
errorem : but that may require a history by itself. 

As to his propagating religion, it is a little hard in- 
deed, at first sight, to charge the Devil with propaga- 
ting religion, that is to say, if we take it literally, and in 
the gross ; but if you take it as the Scots insisted to 
take the oath of fidelity, viz. with an explanation, it is 
plain Satan has very often had a share in the method, 
if not in the design, of propagating Christian faith : for 
example : 

I think I do no injury at all to the Devil, to say that 
he had a great hand in the old holy war, as it was 
ignorantly and enthusiastically called ; and in stirring 
up the Christian princes and powers of Europe to run 
a madding after the Turks and Saracens, and make 



HISTORY OP THE DEVIL. 5 

war with those innocent people above a thousand miles 
off, only because they entered into God's heritage when 
he had forsaken it, grazed upon his ground when he 
had fairly turned it into a common and laid it open 
for the next comer; spending the nation's treasure, and 
embarking their kings and people, I say, in a war 
above a thousand miles off, filling their heads with that 
religious madness, called, in those days, 'holy zeal' to 
recover the terra sancta, the sepulchres of Christ and 
the saints, and as they called it falsely, the 'holy city,' 
though true religion says it was the accursed city, and 
not worth spending one drop of blood for. 

This religious bubble was certainly of Satan, who, as he 
craftily drew them in, so like a true Devil he left them 
in the lurch when they came there, faced about to the 
Saracens, animated the immortal Saladin against them, 
and managed so dexterously that he left the bones of 
about thirteen or fourteen hundred thousand Christians 
there as a trophy of his infernal politics ; and after the 
Christian world had run a la santa terra, or in English, 
a sauntering about a hundred years, he dropped it to play 
another game less foolish, but ten times wickeder than 
that which went before it, namely, turning the crusa- 
does of the Christians one against another ; and, as 
Hudibras said in another case, 

Made thern fight like mad or drunk, 
For dame Religion as for punk. 

Of this you have a complete account in the history 
of the popes' decrees against the count de Toulouse, 
and the Waldenses and Albigenses, with the crusadoes 
and massacres which followed upon them, wherein, to 
do the Devil's politics some justice, he met with all the 
success he could desire, and the zealots of that day 
executed his infernal orders most punctually, and 
planted religion in those countries in a glorious and 
triumphant manner, upon the destruction of an infinite 



O THE POLITICAL 

number of innocent people, whose blood has fattened 
the soil for the growth of the Catholic faith, in a manner 
very particular, and to Satan's full satisfaction. 

I might, to complete this part of his history, give 
you the detail of his progress in these first steps of his 
alliances with Rome, and add a long list of massacres, 
wars, and expeditions in behalf of religion, which he 
has had the honour to have a visible hand in ; such as 
the Parisian massacre, the Flemish war under the duke 
d' Alva, the Smithfield fires in the Marian days in 
England, and the massacres in Ireland ; all which 
would most effectually convince us that the Devil has 
not been idle in his business ; but I may meet with 
these again in my way, it is enough, while I am upon 
the generals only, to mention them thus in a summary 
way ; I say, it is enough to prove that the Devil has 
really been as much concerned as anybody, in the 
methods taken by some people for propagating the 
Christian religion in the world. 

Some have rashly, and I had almost said maliciously, 
charged the Devil with the great triumphs of his friends 
the Spaniards in America, and would place the 
conquest of Mexico and Peru to the credit of his ac- 
count.' 

But I cannot join with them in this at all, I must 
say, I believe the Devil was innocent of that matter ; 
my reason is, because, Satan was never such a fool as 
to spend his time or his politics, or embark his allies 
to conquer nations who were already his own ; that 
would be Satan against Beelzebub, a making war upon 
himself, and at least doing nothing to the purpose. 

If they should charge him, indeed, with deluding 
Philip II. of Spain into that preposterous attempt called 
the Armada, (Anglice, the Spanish Invasion,) I should 
indeed more readily join with them ; but whether he 
did it weakly, in hope, which was indeed not likely, 
that it should succeed; or wickedly, to destroy the 
great fleet of the Spaniards and draw them in within 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 7 

the reach of his own dominions, the elements ; this 
being a question which authors differ exceedingly 
about, I shall leave it to decide itself. 

But the greatest piece of management which we find 
the Devil has concerned himself in of late, in the matter 
of religion, seems to be that of the mission into China; 
and here indeed Satan has acted his masterpiece. It 
was, no doubt, much for his service, that the Chinese 
should have no insight into matters of religion, I mean 
that we call Christian ; and therefore, though popery 
and the Devil are not at so much variance as some may 
imagine, yet he did not think it safe to let the general 
system of Christianity be heard of among them in China. 
Hence, when the name of the Christian religion had 
but been received with some seeming approbation in 
the country of Japan, Satan immediately, as if alarmed 
at the thing, and dreading what the consequence of it 
might be, armed the Japanese against it with such 
fury, that they expelled it at once. 

It was much safer to his designs, when, if the story 
be not a fiction, he put that Dutch witticism into the 
mouths of the States' commanders, when they came to 
Japan ; who, having more wit than to own themselves 
Christians in such a place as that, when the question 
was put to them, answered negatively, that they were 
not, but that they were of another religion, called Hol- 
landers. 

However, it seems the diligent Jesuits outwitted 
the Devil in China, and, as I said above, overshot him 
in his own bow; for the mission being in danger, by the 
Devil and the Chinese emperor's joining together, of 
being wholly expelled there too, as they had been in 
Japan, they cunningly fell in with the ecclesiastics of 
the country, and joining the priestcraft of both religions 
together, they brought Jesus Christ and Confucius to 
be so reconcilable, that the Chinese and the Roman 
idolatry appeared capable of a confederacy, of going on 



8 THE POLITICAL 

hand in hand together, and consequently of being very 
good friends. 

This was a masterpiece indeed, and, as they say, 
almost frightened Satan out of his wits ; but he being a 
ready manager, and particularly famous for serving 
himself of the rogueries of the priests, faced about im- 
mediately to the mission, and making a virtue of 
necessity, clapped in, with all possible alacrity, with the 
proposal a ; so the Jesuits and he formed a hotchpotch 
of religion, made up of popery and paganism, and cal- 
culated to leave the latter rather worse than they 
found it, blending the faith of Christ and the philosophy 
or morals of Confucius together, and formally christen- 
ing them by the name of religion ; by which means the 
politic interest of the mission was preserved, and yet 
Satan lost not one inch of ground with the Chinese, no, 
not by the planting the gospel itself, such as it was, 
among them. 

Nor has it been much disadvantage to him that this 
plan or scheme of a new-modeled religion would not 
go down at Rome, and that the Inquisition damned it 
with bell, book, and candle ; distance of place served 
his new allies, the missionaries, in the stead of a pro- 
tection from the Inquisition ; and now and then a rich 
present well placed found them friends in the congrega- 
tion itself; and where any nuncio with his impudent zeal 
pretended to take such a long voyage to oppose them, 
Satan took care to get him sent back re infecta, or in- 
spired the mission to move him off the premises, by 
methods of their own, that is to say, being interpreted, 
to murder him. 

Thus the mission has, in itself, been truly devilish, 
and the Devil has interested himself in the planting the 
Christian religion in China. 

a N. B. He never refused setting his hand to any opinion 
which he thought it for his interest to acknowledge. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 9 

The influence the Devil has in the politics of man- 
kind, is another especial part of his history, and would 
require, if it were possible, a very exact description ; 
but here we shall necessarily be obliged to inquire so 
nicely into the arcana of circumstances, and unlock 
the cabinets of state in so many courts, canvass the 
councils of ministers and the conduct of princes so 
fully, and expose them so much, that it may, perhaps, 
make a combustion among the great politicians abroad ; 
and in doing that we may come so near home too, that 
though personal safety and prudentials forbid our med- 
dling with our own country, we may be taken in a 
double entendre, and fall unpitied for being only sus- 
pected of touching truths that are so tender, whether 
we are guilty or no ; on these accounts I must meddle 
the less with that part, at least for the present. 

Be it that the Devil has had a share in some of the 
late councils of Europe, influencing them this way or 
that way, to his own advantage, what is it to us ? For 
example, what if he has had any concern in the late 
affair of Thorn ? what need we put it upon him, seeing 
his confederates the Jesuits with the Assessorial tri- 
bunal of Poland take it upon themselves ? I shall leave 
that part to the issue of time. I wish it were as easy 
to persuade the world that he had no hand in bringing 
the injured protestants to commit the arbitration of that 
affair to the very party, and leave the justice due to 
the cries of protestant blood to the arbitrement of a 
popish power, who dare say that the Devil must be in 
it, if justice should be obtained that way : I should 
rather say, the Devil is in it, or else it would never be 
expected. 

It occurs next to inquire from the premises, whether 
the Devil has more influence or less in the affairs of 
the world now, than he had in former ages ; and this 
will depend upon comparing, as we go along, his me- 
thods and way of working in past times, and the 
modern politics by which he acts in our days ; with the 



10 THE POLITICAL 

differing reception which, he has met with among the 
men of such distant ages. 

But there is so much to inquire of about the Devil, 
before we can bring his story down to our modern 
times, that we must for the present let that drop, and 
look a little back to the remoter part of his history, 
and draw his picture that people may know him when 
they meet him, and see who and what he is, and what 
he has been doing ever since he got leave to act in the 
high station he now appears in. 

In the mean time, if I might obtain leave to pre- 
sent an humble petition to Satan, it should be, that he 
would, according to modern usage, oblige us all with 
writing the history of his own times ; it would, as well 
as one that is gone before it, be a devilish good one ; 
for, as to the sincerity of the performance, the autho- 
rity of the particulars, the justice of the characters, &c, 
if they were no better vouched, no more consistent 
with themselves, with charity, with truth, and with the 
honour of an historian, than the last of that kind which 
came abroad among us, it must be a reproach to the 
Devil himself to be author of it. 

Were Satan to be brought under the least obligation 
to write truth, and that the matters of fact, which he 
should write, might be depended upon, he is certainly 
qualified by his knowledge of things to be a complete his- 
torian ; nor could the bishop himself, who, by the way, has 
given us already the devil of a history, come up to 
him. Milton's Pandemonium, though an excellent dra- 
matic performance, would appear a mere trifling sing- 
song business, beneath the dignity of Chevy Chase : 
the Devil could give us a true account of all the civil 
wars in heaven ; how and by whom, and in what man- 
ner he lost the day there, and was obliged to quit the 
field. The fiction of his refusing to acknowledge and 
submit to the Messiah, upon his being declared gene- 
ralissimo of the heavenly forces, which Satan expected 
himself, as the eldest officer ; and his not being able to 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 11 

brook another to be put in over his head ; I say, that 
fine-spun thought of Mr. Milton would appear to be 
strained too far, and only serve to convince us that he 
(Milton) knew nothing of the matter. Satan knows 
very well, that the Messiah was not declared to be the 
Son of God with power till by and after the resurrection 
from the dead, and that all power was then given him 
in heaven and earth, and not before ; so that Satan's 
rebellion must derive from other causes, and upon 
other occasions, as he himself can doubtless give us an 
account, if he thinks fit, and of which we shall speak 
further in his history. 

What a fine history might this old gentleman write 
of the antediluvian world, and of all the weighty affairs, 
as well of state as of religion, which happened during 
the fifteen hundred years of the patriarchal administra- 
tion! 

Then, who, like him, could give a full and complete 
account of the deluge, whether it was a mere vindic- 
tive, a blast from heaven, wrought by a supernatural 
power in the way of miracle ? or whether, according to 
Mr. Burnet's theory, it was a consequence following 
antecedent causes by the mere necessities of nature, 
seen in constitution, natural position, and unavoidable 
working of things, as by the theory published by that 
learned enthusiast it seems to be ? 

Satan could easily account for all the difficulties of 
the theory, and tell us whether, as there was a na- 
tural necessity of the deluge, there is not the like 
necessity and natural tendency to a conflagration at 
last. 

Would the Devil exert himself as an historian, for 
our improvement and diversion, how glorious an ac- 
count could he give us of Noah's voyage round the 
world, in the famous ark ! he could resolve all the dif- 
ficulties about the building it, the furnishing it, and 
the laying up provisions in it for all the collection of 
kinds that he had made ; he could tell us whether all 



12 THE POLITICAL 

the creatures came volunteer to him to go into the ark, 
or whether he went a-hunting for several years before, 
in order to bring them together. 

He could give us a true relation how he wheedled 
the people of the next world into the absurd, ridicu- 
lous undertaking of building a Babel ; how far that stu- 
pendous staircase, which was in imagination to reach 
up to heaven, was carried, before it was interrupted 
and the builders confounded ; how their speech was 
altered, how many tongues it was divided into, or 
whether they were divided at all ; and how many sub- 
divisions or dialects have been made since that, by 
which means very few of God's creatures, except the 
brutes, understand one another, or care one farthing 
whether they do or no. 

In all these things Satan, who, no doubt, would 
make a very good chronologist, could settle every 
epoch, correct every calendar, and bring all our ac- 
counts of time to a general agreement, as well the 
Grecian Olympiads, the Turkish Hegira, the Chinese 
fictitious accounts of the world's duration, as our blind 
Julian and Gregorian accounts, which put the world, 
to this day, in such confusion, that we neither agree in 
our holy days or working days, fasts or feasts, nor 
keep the same sabbath in any part of the same globe. 

This great antiquary could bring us to a certainty 
in all the difficulties of ancient story, and tell us whe- 
ther the tale of the Siege of Troy, and the Rape of 
Helen, was a fable of Homer, or a history ; whether the 
fictions of the poets are formed from their own brain, 
or founded in facts, and whether letters were invented 
by Cadmus the Phoenician, or dictated immediately 
from heaven at mount Sinai. 

Nay, he could tell us how and in what manner he 
wheedled Eve, deluded Adam, put Cain into a passion, 
till he made him murder his own brother ; and made 
Noah, who was above five hundred years a preacher of 
righteousness, turn sot in his old age, dishonour all his 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 13 

ministry, debauch himself with wine, and by getting 
drunk and exposing himself, became the jest and laugh- 
ing-stock of his children, and of all his posterity to this 
day. 

And would Satan, according to the modern practiqe 
of the late right reverend historian, enter into the cha- 
racters of the great men of his age, how should we be di- 
verted with the just history of Adam, inParadise and out 
of it, his character, and how he behaved at and after 
his expulsion ; how Cain wandered in the land of Nod, 
what the mark was w T hich God set upon him, whose 
daughter his wife was, and how big the city was he 
built there, according to a certain poet of noble extrac- 
tion, 

How Cain in the land of Nod 
When the rascal was all alone 

Like an owl in an ivy tod 
Built a city as big as Roan. 

Roch. 



He could certainly have drawn Eve's picture, told 
us every feature in her face, and every inch in her 
shape, whether she was a perfect beauty or no, and 
whether with the fall she did grow crooked, ugly, ill- 
natured and a scold ; as the learned Valdemar suggests 
to be the effect of the curse. 

Descending to the characters of the patriarchs in 
that age, he might, no doubt, give us in particular the 
characters of Belus, worshipped under the name of 
Baal, Saturn and Jupiter, his successors, who they 
were here, and how they behaved ; with all the Pha- 
raohs of Egypt, the Abimilechs of Canaan, and the 
monarchs of Assyria and Babylon. 

Hence also he is able to write the lives of all the 
heroes of the world,, from Alexander of Macedon to 
Lewis XIV., and from Augustus to the great king 
George ; nor could the bishop himself go beyond him 



14 THE POLITICAL 

for flattery, any more than the Devil himself could go 
beyond the bishop for falsehood. 

I could enlarge with a particular satisfaction upon 
the many fine things which Satan, rummaging that in- 
exhaustable storehouse of slander, could set down to 
blacken the characters of good men, and load the best 
princes of the world with infamy and reproach. 

But we shall never prevail with him, I doubt, to do 
mankind so much service as resolving all those diffi- 
culties would be ; for he has an indelible grudge against 
us; as he believes, and perhaps is assured, that men 
were at first created by his sovereign, to the intent 
that, after a certain state of probation in life, such of 
them as shall be approved, are appointed to fill up 
those vacancies in the heavenly host, which were made 
by the abdication and expulsion of him the Devil and 
his angels ; so that man is appointed to come in Satan's 
stead, to make good the breach, and enjoy all those 
ineffable joys and beatitudes which Satan enjoyed be- 
fore his fall. No wonder, then, that the Devil swells 
with envy and rage at mankind in general, and at the 
best of them in particular ; nay, the granting this point 
is giving an unanswerable reason why the Devil prac- 
tises with such unwearied and indefatigable applica- 
tion upon the best men, if possible, to disappoint 
God Almighty's decree, that he should not find enough 
among the whole race to be proper subjects of his 
clemency, and qualified to succeed the Devil and his 
host, or fill up the places vacant by the fall ! It is true, 
indeed, the Devil, who we have reason to say is no 
fool, ought to know better than to suppose that if he 
could seduce the whole* race of mankind and make 
them as bad as himself, he could, by the success of his 
wickedness, thwart or disappoint the determined pur- 
poses of heaven ; but that those which are appointed 
to inherit the thrones, which he and his followers ab- 
dicated and were deposed from, shall certainly be pre- 
served in spite of all his devices for that inheritance, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 15 

and shall have the possession secured to them, not- 
withstanding all that the Devil and all the host of Hell 
can do to prevent it. 

But, however, he knows the certainty of this, and 
that when he endeavours the seducing the chosen ser- 
vants of the Most High, he fights against God himself, 
struggles with irresistible grace, and makes war with 
infinite power, undermining the Church of God and 
that faith in him which are fortified with eternal pro- 
mises of Jesus Christ, that the gates of Hell, that is to 
say, the Devil and all his power shall not prevail against 
them ; I say, however, he knows how impossible it is 
that he should obtain his ends, yet so blind is his rage, 
so infatuate is his wisdom, that he cannot refrain break- 
ing himself to pieces against this mountain, and split- 
ting against this rock, qui Jupiter vult perdere hos 
dementat. 

But to leave this serious part, which is a little too 
solemn, for the account of this rebel ; seeing we are 
not to expect he will write his own history for our in- 
formation and diversion, I shall see if I cannot write 
it for him : in order to this, I shall extract the sub- 
stance of his whole story, from the beginning to our 
own times, which I shall collect out of what is come to 
hand, whether by revelation or inspiration, that is 
nothing to him, I shall take care so to improve my in- 
telligence, as may make my account of him authentic, 
and, in a word, such as the Devil himself shall not be 
able to contradict. 

In writing this uncouth story I shall be freed from 
the censures of the critics, in a more than ordinary 
manner, upon one account especially ; that my story 
shall be so just and so well grounded, and, after 
all the good things I shall say of Satan, will be so little 
to his satisfaction, that the Devil himself will not be 
able to say, I dealt with the Devil in writing it : I 
might, perhaps, give you some account where I had 
my intelligence, and how all the arcana of his manage- 



16 • THE POLITIC Ali 

ment have come to my hands ; but pardon me, gentle- 
men, this would be to betray conversation, and to dis- 
cover my agents, and you know statesmen are very 
careful to preserve the correspondences they keep in 
the enemy's country, lest they expose their friends to 
the resentment of the powers whose councils they 
betray. 

Besides, the learned tell us, that ministers of state 
make an excellent plea of their not betraying their in- 
telligence, against all party inquiries into the great 
sums of money pretended to be paid for secret service ; 
and whether the secret service was to bribe people to 
betray things abroad or at home ; whether the money 
was paid to somebody or to nobody ; employed to es- 
tablish correspondences abroad, or to establish families 
and amass treasure at home ; in a word, whether it 
was to serve their country or serve themselves, it has 
been the same thing, and the same plea has been their 
protection : likewise, in the important affair which I 
am upon, it is hoped you will not desire me to betray 
my correspondents ; for you know, Satan is naturally 
cruel and malicious, and who knows what he might do 
to show his resentment ? at least it might endanger a 
stop of our intelligence for the future. 

And yet, before I have done, I shall make it very 
plain, that, however my information may be secret and 
difficult, that yet I came very honestly by it, and shall 
make a very good use of it ; for it is a great mistake in 
those who think that an acquaintance with the affairs 
of the Devil may not be made very useful to us all : 
they that know no evil can know no good ; and, as the 
learned tell us, that a stone taken out of the head of a 
toad is a good antidote against poison, so a competent 
knowledge of the Devil and all his ways, may be 
the best help to make us defy the Devil and all his 
works. 



HISTORY OP THE DEVIL. 17 



CHAP. II. 

Of the word ' devil/ as it is a proper name to the Devil, 
and any or all his host, angels, fyc. 

It is a question, not yet determined by the learned, 
whether the word Devil be a singular, that is to say, 
the name of a person standing by himself, or a noun of 
multitude ; if it be a singular, and so must be used 
personally only as a proper name, it consequently implies 
one imperial devil, monarch or god of the whole clan of 
Hell ; justly distinguished by the term, The Devil, or as 
the Scots call him, The muckle-horned Dee'l, or as 
others in a wilder dialect, The Devil of Hell, that is to 
say, The Devil of a devil ; or (better still) as the Scrip- 
ture expresses it, by way of emphasis, the great red 
dragon, the Devil, and Satan. 

But if we take this word to be, as above, a noun of 
multitude, and so to be used ambidexter, as occasion 
presents, singular or plural, then the Devil signifies 
Satan by himself, or Satan with all his legions at his 
heels, as you please, more or less ; and this way of un- 
derstanding the word, as it may be very convenient for 
my purpose, in the account I am now to give of the in- 
fernal powers, so it is not altogether improper in the 
nature of the thing. It is thus expressed in Scripture, 
where the person possessed (Matt. iv. 24.) is first said to 
be possessed of the Devil, singular; and our Saviour asks 
him, as speaking to a single person, What is thy name? 
and is answered in the plural and singular together, 
My name. is Legion, for ive are many. 

Nor will it be any wrong to the Devil, supposing 
him a single person ; seeing entitling him to the con- 
duct of all his inferior agents, is what he will take 

h. d. c 



18 THE POLITICAL 

rather for an addition to his infernal glory, than a 
diminution or lessening of him in the extent of his 
fame. 

Having thus articled with the Devil for liberty of 
speech, 1 shall talk of him sometimes in the singular, 
as a person, and sometimes in the plural, as a host of 
devils, or of infernal spirits ; just as occasion requires, 
and as the history of his affairs makes necessary. 

But before I enter upon any part of his history, the 
nature of the thing calls me back, and my lord B — of 

in his late famous orations in defence of liberty, 

summons me to prove that there is such a thing or 
such a person as the Devil ; and, in short, unless I can 

give some evidence of his existence, as my lord 

said very well, I am talking of nobody. 

D-mn me, sir, says a graceless comrade of his to a 
great man, your grace will go to the Devil. 

D-mn ye, sir, says the d , then I shall go no- 
where ; I wonder where you intend to go ? 

Nay, to the D 1 too, I doubt, says Graceless, for 

I am almost as wicked as my lord duke. 

D. Thou art a silly empty dog, says the d , 

and if there is such a place as a hell, though I be- 
lieve nothing of it, it is a place for fools, such as thou 
art. 

Gr. I wonder, then, what heaven the great wits go 
to, such as my lord duke ? I don't care to go there, let- 
it be where it will ; they are a plaguy tiresome kind of 
people, there's no bearing them, they'll make a hell 
wherever they come. 

D. Prithee, hold thy fool's tongue ; I tell thee, if 
there is any such place as we call nowhere, that's all 
the heaven or hell that I know of, or believe anything 
about. 

Gr. Very good, my lord — ; so that heaven is no- 
where, and hell is nowhere, and the Devil is nobody, 
according to my lord duke ! 

D. Yes, sir, and what then ? 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 19 

Gr. And you are to go nowhere when you die, are 
you? 

D. Yes, you dog ; don't you know what that incom- 
parable noble genius, my lord Rochester, sings upon the 
subject ; I believe it unfeignedly ; 

( sings, J After death nothing is, 

And nothing death. 

Gr. You believe it, my lord ! you mean, you would 
fain believe it if you could ; but since you put that great 
genius, my lord Rochester, upon me, let me play him 
back upon your grace ; I am sure you have read his 
fine poem upon Nothing, in one of the stanzas of which 
is this beautiful thought, 

And to be part of thee a 
The wicked wisely pray. 

D. You are a foolish dog. 
Gr. And my lord duke is a wise infidel. 
D. Why ! is it not wiser to believe no Devil, than 
to be always terrified at him ? 

Gr. But shall I toss another poet upon you, my lord ? 

If it should so fall out, as who can tell, 

But there may be a God, a heaven, and hell, 

Mankind had best consider well, for fear 

't should be too late when their mistakes appear. 

D. D-mn your foolish poet, that's not my lord 
Rochester. 

Gr. But how must I be damn'd, if there's no Devil ? 
Is not your grace a little inconsistent there ? My lord 
Rochester would not have said that, an 't please your 
grace. 

D. No, you dog, I am not inconsistent at all, and if 

a Meant of nothing. 

c2 



20 THE POLITICAL 

I had the ordering of you, I'd make you sensible of it ; 
I'd make you think yourself damn'd for want of a Devil. 

Gr. That's like one of your grace's paradoxes ; such 
as when you swore by God, that you did not believe 
there was any such thing as a God or Devil ; so you 
swear by nothing, and damn me to nowhere. 

D. You are a critical dog ; who taught you to be- 
lieve these solemn trifles ? who taught you to say there 
is a God ? 

Gr. Nay, I had a better schoolmaster than my lord 
duke. 

D. Why, who was your schoolmaster, pray ? 

Gr. The Devil, an 't please your grace. 

D. The devil! the devil he did! What, you're 
going to quote Scripture, are you ? Prithee don't tell 
me of Scripture, I know what you mean, the devils 
believe and tremble ; why then I have the whip-hand 
of the Devil, for I hate trembling, and I am delivered 
from it effectually, for I never believed anything of it, 
and therefore I don't tremble. 

Gr. And there, indeed, I am a wickeder creature 
than the Devil, or even than my lord duke, for I be- 
lieve, and yet don't tremble neither. 

D. Nay, if you are come to your penitentials, I 
have done with you. 

Gr. And I think I must have done with my lord 
duke, for the same reason. 

D. Ay, ay, pray do, I'll go and enjoy myself ; I won't 
throw away the pleasure of my life ; I know the con- 
sequence of it. 

Gr. And I'll go and reform myself, else I know the 
consequence too. 

This short dialogue happened between two men of 
quality, and both men of wit too ; and the effect was, 
that the Lord brought the reality of the Devil into the 
question, and the debate brought the profligate to be 
a penitent ; so, in short, the Devil was made a preacher 
of repentance. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 21 

The truth is, God and the Devil, however opposite 
in their nature, and remote from one another in their 
place of abiding, seem to stand pretty much upon a 
level in our faith : for as to our believing the reality of 
their existence, he that denies one, generally denies 
both ; and he that believes one, necessarily believes 
both. 

Very few, if any, of those who believe there is a God, 
and acknowledge the debt of homage which mankind 
owes to the supreme Governor of the world, doubt the 
existence of the Devil, except here and there one, 
whom we call practical atheists ; and it is the character 
of an atheist, if there is such a creature on earth, that, 
like my lord duke, he believes neither God nor Devil. 

As the belief of both these stands upon a level, and 
that God and the Devil seem to have an equal share 
in our faith ; so the evidence of their existence seems 
to stand upon a level too, in many things ; and as they 
are known by their works in the same particular cases, 
so they are discovered after the same manner of 
demonstration. 

Nay, in some respects, it is equally criminal to deny 
the reality of them both, only with this difference, that 
to believe the existence of a God is a debt to nature, 
and to believe the existence of the Devil is a like debt 
to reason ; one is a demonstration from the reality of 
visible causes, and the other a deduction from the like 
reality of their effects. 

One demonstration of the existence of God, is from 
the universal well-guided consent of all nations to 
worship and adore a supreme power ; one demonstra- 
tion of the existence of the Devil, is from the avowed 
ill-guided consent of some nations, who knowing no 
other god, make a god of the Devil for want of a 
better. 

It may be true, that those nations have no other 
ideas of the Devil than as of a superior power ; if they 
thought him a supreme power it would have other 



22 THE POLITICAL 

effects on them, and they would submit to and worship 
him with a different kind of fear. 

But it is plain they have right notions of him as a 
devil, or evil spirit, because the best reason, and in 
some places the only reason, they give for worshipping 
him is, that he may do them no hurt ; having no 
notions at all of his having any power, much less any 
inclination, to do them any good; so that, indeed, they 
make a mere devil of him, at the same time that they 
bow to him as to a god. 

All the ages of paganism in the world have had this 
notion of the Devil : indeed, in some parts of the 
world, they had also some deities which they honoured 
above him, as being supposed to be beneficent, kind, 
and inclined, as well as capable, to give them good 
things ; for this reason the more polite heathens, such 
as the Grecians and the Romans, had their Lares, or 
household gods, who they paid a particular respect to, 
as being their protectors from hobgoblins, ghosts of the 
dead, evil spirits, frightful appearances, evil geniuses, 
and other noxious creatures from the invisible world ; 
or, to put it into the language of the day we live in, 
from the Devil, in whatever shape or appearance he 
might come to them, and from whatever might hurt 
them. And what was all this but setting up devils 
against devils, supplicating one devil, under the notion 
of a good spirit, to drive out and protect them from 
another, whom they called a bad spirit ; the white 
devil against the black devil ? 

This proceeds from the natural notions mankind 
necessarily entertain of things to come ; superior or in- 
ferior, God and the Devil, fill up all futurity in our 
thoughts ; and it is impossible for us to form any 
images in our minds of an immortality and an invisible 
world, but under the notions of perfect felicity, or ex- 
treme misery. 

Now, as these two respect the eternal state of man 
after life, they are respectively the object of our reve- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 23 

rence and affection, or of our horror and aversion ; but 
notwithstanding they are placed thus in a diametrical 
opposition in our affections and passions, they are on 
an evident level as to the certainty of their existence, 
and, as I said above, bear an equal share in our faith. 

It being then as certain that there is a Devil, as 
that there is a God, I must from this time forward 
admit no more doubt of his existence, nor take any more 
pains to convince you of it ; but speaking of him as a 
reality in being, proceed to inquire who he is, and 
from whence, in order to enter directly into the detail 
of his history. 

Now, not to enter into all the metaphysical trumpery 
of the schools, nor wholly to confine myself to the lan- 
guage of the pulpit, where we are told, that to think 
of God and of the Devil, we must endeavour first to 
form ideas of those things which illustrate the descrip- 
tion of rewards and punishment; in the one the 
eternal presence of the highest good, and, as a neces- 
sary attendant, the most perfect, consummate, durable 
bliss and felicity, springing from the presence of that 
being in whom all possible beatitude is inexpressibly 
present, and that in the highest perfection ; and on the 
contrary, to conceive of a sublime fallen archangel, at- 
tended with an innumerable host of degenerate, rebel 
seraphs or angels, cast out of heaven together, all 
guilty of inexpressible rebellion, and all suffering from 
that time, and to suffer for ever, the eternal vengeance 
of the Almighty, in an inconceivable manner; that his 
presence 5 though blessed in itself, is to them the most 
complete article of terror ; that they are in themselves 
perfectly miserable; and to be with whom for ever, 
adds an inexpressible misery to any state as well as 
place, and fills the minds of those who are to be, or 
expect to be, banished to them, with inconceivable hor- 
ror and amazement. 

But when you have gone over all this, and a great 
deal more of the like, though less intelligible language, 



24 THE POLITICAL 

which the passions of men collect to amuse one an- 
other with, you have said nothing if you omit the 
main article, namely, the personality of the Devil ; and 
till you add to all the rest some description of the 
company with whom all this is to be suffered, viz. the 
Devil and his angels. 

Now, who this Devil and his angels are, what 
share they have either actively or passively in the eter- 
nal miseries of a future state, how far they are agents 
in or partners with the sufferings of the place, is a dif- 
ficulty yet not fully discovered by the most learned ; 
nor do I believe it is made less a difficulty by their 
meddling with it. 

But to come to the person and original of the 
Devil, or, as I said before, of devils ; I allow him to 
come of an ancient family, for he is from heaven, and 
more truly than the Romans could say of their idolized 
Numa, he is of the race of the gods. 

That Satan is a fallen angel, a rebel seraph, cast out 
for his rebellion, it is the general opinion, and it is not 
my business to dispute things universally received ; as 
he was tried, condemned, and the sentence of expulsion 
executed on him in heaven, he is in this world like a 
transported felon, never to return ; his crime, whatever 
particular aggravations it might have, it is certain 
amounted to high-treason against his lord and gover- 
nor, who was also his maker, and against whom he 
rose in rebellion, took up arms, and, in a word, raised 
a horrid and unnatural war in his dominions; but 
being overcome in battle and made prisoner, he and all 
his host, whose numbers were infinite, all glorious 
angels like himself, lost at once their beauty and glory 
with their innocence, and commenced devils, being 
transformed by crime into monsters and frightful 
objects ; such as, to describe, human fancy is obliged 
to draw pictures and descriptions in such forms as are 
most hateful and frightful to the imagination. 

These notions, I doubt not, gave birth to all the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 25 

beautious images and sublime expressions in Milton's 
majestic poem ; where, though he has played the poet 
in a most luxuriant manner, he has sinned against 
Satan most egregiously, and done the Devil a manifest 
injury in a great many particulars, as I shall show in 
its place. And as I shall be obliged to do Satan jus- 
tice when I come to that part of his history, Mr. Mil- 
ton's admirers must pardon me if I let them see, that 
though I admire Mr. Milton as a poet, yet that he was 
greatly out in matters of history, and especially the 
history of the Devil ; in short, that he has charged 
Satan falsely in several particulars ; and so he has 
Adam and Eve too : but that I shall leave till I come 
to the history of the royal family of Eden ; which I re- 
solve to present you with when the Devil and I have 
done with one another. 

But not to run down Mr. Milton neither, whose 
poetry, nor his judgment, cannot be reproached with- 
out injury to our own ; all those bright ideas of his, 
which make his poem so justly valued, whether they 
are capable of proof as to the fact, are, notwithstanding, 
confirmations of my hypothesis ; and are taken from a 
supposition of the personality of the Devil, placing him 
at the head of the infernal host, as a sovereign elevated 
spirit and monarch of Hell ; and as such it is that I 
undertake to write his history. 

By the word Hell, I do not suppose, or at least not 
determine, that his residence, or that of the whole army 
of devils, is yet in the same local hell to which the di- 
vines tell us he shall be at last chained down ; or, at 
least, that he is yet confined to it ; for we shall find he 
is at present a prisoner at large : of both which circum- 
stances of Satan I shall take occasion to speak in its 
course. 

But when I call the Devil the monarch of Hell, I am 
to be understood as suits to the present purpose ; that 
he is the sovereign of all the race of hell, that is to 
say, of all the devils or spirits of the infernal clan ; 



26 THE POLITICAL 

let their numbers, quality, and powers, be what they 
will. 

Upon this supposed personality and superiority of 
Satan, or, as I call it, the sovereignty and government 
of one Devil above all the rest ; I say, upon this notion 
are formed all the systems of the dark side of futurity, 
that we can form in our minds : and so general is the 
opinion of it, that it will hardly bear to be opposed by 
any other argument, at least that will bear to be 
reasoned upon : all the notions of a parity of devils, or 
making a commonwealth among the black divan, seem 
to be enthusiatic and visionary, but with no consistency 
or certainty, and is so generally exploded that we 
must not venture so much as to debate the point. 

Taking it, then, as the generality of mankind do, that 
there is a grand Devil, a superior of the whole black 
race ; that they all fell, together with their general 
Satan at the head of them ; that though he, Satan, 
could not maintain his high station in heaven, yet that 
he did continue his dignity among the rest, who are 
called his servants, in Scripture his angels ; that he has 
a kind of dominion or authority over the rest, and that 
they were all, how many millions soever in number, at 
his command ; employed by him in all his hellish de- 
signs, and in all his wicked contrivances for the de- 
struction of man, and for the setting up his own king- 
dom in the world. 

Supposing then, that there is such a superior master- 
Devil over the rest, it remains that we inquire into his 
character, and something of his history ; in which, 
though we cannot perhaps produce such authentic 
documents as in the story of other great monarchs, 
tyrants, and furies of the world ; yet I shall endeavour 
to speak some things which the experience of mankind 
may be apt to confirm, and which the Devil himself will 
hardly be able to contradict. 

It being then granted that there is such a thing or 
person, call him which we will, as a master-Devil ; 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 27 

that he is thus superior to all the rest in power and in 
authority, and that all the other evil spirits are his 
angels, or ministers, or officers, to execute his com- 
mands, and are employed in his business ; it remains 
to inquire, whence he came ? how he came hither into 
this world ? what that business is which he is employed 
about ? what his present state is, and where and to what 
part of the creation of God he is limited and restrained? 
what the liberties are he takes, or is allowed to take ? 
in what manner he works, and how his instruments are 
likewise allowed to work? what he has done ever since 
he commenced Devil, and what he is now doing, and 
what he may yet do before his last and closer confine- 
ment ? as also what he cannot do, and how far we may 
or may not be said to be exposed to him, or have or 
have not reason to be afraid of him ? These and what- 
ever else occurs in the history and conduct of this 
arch-Devil and his agents, that may be useful for in- 
formation, caution, or diversion, you may expect in the 
process of this work. 

I know it has been questioned by some, with more 
face than fear, how it consists with a complete victory 
of the Devil, which they say was at first obtained by 
the heavenly powers over Satan and his apostate army 
in heaven, that when he was cast out of the holy place, 
and dashed down into the abyss of eternal darkness, as 
into a place of punishment, a condemned hole, or place 
of confinement, to be reserved there to the judgment 
of the great day ; I say, how it consists with that 
entire victory, to let him loose again and give him 
liberty, like a thief that has broke prison, to range 
about God's creation, and there to continue his re- 
bellion, commit new ravages and acts of hostility 
against God, make new efforts at dethroning the 
Almighty Creator, and, in particular, to fall upon the 
weakest of his creatures, man ; how Satan being so en- 
tirely vanquished, he should be permitted to recover 



28 THE POLITICAL 

any of his wicked powers, and find room to do mischief 
to mankind. 

Nay, they go further, and suggest bold things against 
the wisdom of heaven in exposing mankind, weak in 
comparison of the immense extent of the Devil's power, 
to so manifest an overthrow, to so unequal a fight, in 
which he is sure, if alone in the conflict, to be worsted, 
to leave him such a dreadful enemy to engage with, 
and so ill furnished with weapons to resist him. 

These objections I shall give as good an answer to 
as the case will admit in their course, but must adjourn 
them for the present. 

That the Devil is not yet a close prisoner, we have 
evidence enough to confirm ; I will not suggest, that, 
like our Newgate thieves, (to bring little devils and 
great devils together,) he is let out by connivance, and 
has some little latitudes and advantages for mischief, 
by that means ; returning at certain seasons to his 
confinement again. This might hold, were it not, that 
the comparison must suggest, that the power which has 
cast him down could be deluded, and the under-keepers 
or jailers, under whose charge he was in custody, could 
wink at his excursions, and the lord of the place know- 
nothing of the matter. But this wants further explana- 
tion. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 29 



CHAP. III. 

Of the original of the Devil, who he is, and what he was 
before his expulsion out of heaven, and in what state 
he was from that time to the creation of man. 

To come to a regular inquiry into Satan's affairs, it is 
needful we should go back to his original, as far as 
history and the opinion of the learned world give us 
leave. 

It is agreed by all writers, as well sacred as pro- 
fane, that this creature we now call a Devil, was 
originally an angel of light, a glorious seraph ; perhaps 
the choicest of all the glorious seraphs. See how 
Milton describes his original glory : 

Satan, so call him now, his former name 
Is heard no more in Heaven ; he of the first, 
If not the first archangel, great in power, 
In favour and preeminence. 

Par. Lost, lib. v. 

And again the same author, and upon the same subject : 

Brighter ones amidst the host 
Of angels, than that star the stars among, 
lb. lib. vii. 

The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to 
make among the thrones and dominions in heaven is 
such, as we might suppose the highest angel in that 
exalted train could make ; and some think, as above, 
that he was the chief of the archangels. 

Hence that notion, and not ill founded, namely, that 
the first cause of his disgrace, and on which ensued his 
rebellion, was occasioned upon God's proclaiming his 



30 THE POLITICAL 

Son generalissimo, and with himself supreme ruler in 
heaven, giving the dominion of all his works of crea- 
tion, as well already finished as not then begun, to 
him ; which post of honour, say they, Satan expected 
to be conferred on himself, as next in honour, majesty, 
and power, to God the supreme. 

This opinion is followed by Mr. Milton too, as ap- 
pears in the following lines, where he makes all the 
angels attending at a general summons, and God the 
Father making the following declaration to them : 

Hear all ye angels, progeny of light, 

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers ! 

Hear my decree, which unrevok'd shall stand. 

This day I have begot whom I declare 

My only Son, and on this holy hill 

Him have anointed, whom you now behold 

At my right hand ; your Head I him appoint ; 

And by my self have sworn to him shall bow 

All knees in heaven, and shall confess him lord : 

Under his great vice-gerent reign abide 

United, as one individual soul, 

For ever happy : him who disobeys, 

Me disobeys, breaks union, and, that day 

Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls 

Into utter darkness, deep ingulf d, his place 

Ordained without redemption, without end. 

Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new essence 
or being in heaven, called the Son of God ; for God, 
says Mr. Milton, (though erroneously,) declared himself 
at that time, saying, This day have I begotten him, and 
that he should be set up above all the former powers 
of heaven, of whom Satan (as above) was the chief, and 
expecting, if any higher post could be granted, it might 
be his due; I say, affronted at this, he resolved 

With all his legions to dislodge, and leave 
Unworship'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme 
Contemptuous. 

Par. Lost, lib. v. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 31 

But Mr. Milton is grossly erroneous in ascribing 
those words, This day have I begotten thee, to that 
declaration of the Father before Satan fell, and conse- 
quently to a time before the creation ; whereas, it is 
by interpreters agreed to be understood of the incar- 
nation of the Son of God, or at least of the resurrection: 
see Pool upon Acts xiii. 33 a . 

In a word, Satan withdrew, with all his followers, mal- 
content and chagrined, resolved to disobey this new 
command, and not yield obedience to the Son. 

But Mr. Milton agrees in that opinion, that the 
number of angels which rebelled with Satan was in- 
finite ; and suggests in one place, that they were the 
greatest half of all the angelic body or seraphic host. 

But Satan with his powers, 
-an host 



Innumerable as the stars of night, 

Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the sun 

Impearls on every leaf and every flow'r. 

, lb. lib. v. 

Be their number as it is, numberless millions and 
legions of millions, that is no part of my present 
inquiry ; Satan, the leader, guide, and superior, as he 
was author of the celestial rebellion, is still the great 
head and master-devil as before; and under his autho- 
rity they still act, not obeying, but carrying on the 

a Mr. Pool's words are these : Some refer the words, ■ this 
day have I begotten thee/ to the incarnation of the Son of 
God, others to the resurrection : our translators lay the stress 
on the preposition, of which the verb is compounded, and by 
adding * again,' (viz.) 'raised up Jesus again,' Acts xiii. 33, 
intend it to be understood of the resurrection ; and there is 
ground for it, in the context, for the resurrection of Christ is 
that which St. Paul had propounded in v. 30. of the same 
chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon. 

Not that Christ at his resurrection began to be the Son of 
God, but that he was manifested then to be so. 



32 THE POLITICAL 

same insurrection against God, which they begun in 
heaven ; making war still against heaven, in the person 
of his image and creature man ; and though vanquished 
by the thunder of the Son of God, and cast down head- 
long from heaven, they have yet reassumed, or rather 
not lost, either the will or the power of doing mischief. 
This fall of the angels, with the war in heaven which 
preceded it, is finely described by Ovid, in his war of 
the Titans against Jupiter, casting mountain upon 
mountain, and hill upon hill (Pelion upon Ossa), in 
order to scale the adamantine walls, and break open 
the gates of heaven, till Jupiter struck them with his 
thunderbolts and overwhelmed them in the abyss. 
Vide Ovid. Metam. new translation : — 

Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high, 
For now the Giants strove to storm the sky, 
The lawless brood with bold attempt invade 
The Gods, and mountains upon mountains laid. 

But now the bolt, enraged the Father took, 
Olympus from her deep foundation shook, 
Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke, 
And Ossa's shattered top o'er Pelion broke, 
They're in their own ungodly ruins slain. — 

Lib. i. p. ix. 

Then, again, speaking of Jupiter, resolving in council 
to destroy makind by a deluge, and giving the reasons 
of it to the heavenly host, says thus, speaking of the 
demigods, alluding to good men below i 

Think that they in safety can remain, 
When I, myself, who o'er immortals reign, 
Who send the lightning, and heaven's empire sway, 
The stern Lycaon b practised to betray ? 

lb. 

Since, then, so much poetic liberty is taken with the 
Devil, relating to his most early state, and the time 

b Satan. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 33 

before his fall, give me leave to make an excursion of 
the like kind, relating to his history immediately after 
the fall, and till the creation of man ; an interval which 
I think much of the Devil's story is to be seen in, and 
which Mr. Milton has taken little notice of, at least it 
does not seem completely filled up; after which I shall 
return to honest prose again, and pursue the duty of 
an historian. 

Satan, with hideous ruin thus supprest, 
ExpelPd the seat of blessedness and rest, 
Look'd back and saw the high eternal mound, 
Where all his rebel host their outlet found 
Restor'd impregnable : the breach made up, 
And garrisons of angels ranged a top ; 
In front, a hundred thousand thunders roll, 
And lightnings temper' d to transfix a soul, 
Terror of devils. Satan and his host, 
Now to themselves as well as station lost, 
Unable to support the hated sight, ~) 

Expand seraphic wings, and swift as light > 
Seek for new safety in eternal night. J 

In the remotest gulf of dark they land, 
Here vengeance gives them leave to make their stand ; 
Not that to steps and measures they pretend, 
Councils and schemes their station to defend, 
But broken, disconcerted, and dismay'd, 
By guilt and fright to guilt and fright betray'd ; 
Rage and confusion every spirit possess'd, 
And shame and horror swell'd in every breast ; 
Transforming envy to their essentials burns, 
And beauteous angels frightful devils turns. 

Thus Hell began ; the fire of conscious rage 
No years can quench, no length of time assuage. 
Material fire, with its intensest flame, 
Compared with this can scarce deserve a name ; 
How should it up to immaterials rise ? 
When we're all flame, we shall all fire despise. 

This fire outrageous and its heat intense 
Turns all the pain of loss to pain of sense. 
The folding flames concave and inward roll, 
Act upon spirit and penetrate the soul : 

H. D. D 



34 THE POLITICAL 

Not force of devils can its new powers repel, 
Where'er it burns it finds or makes a hell ; 
For Satan flaming with unquench'd desire 
Forms his own hell and kindles his own fire ; 
Vanquish'd, not humbl'd, not in will brought low, 
But as his powers decline his passions grow : 
The malice, viper like, takes vent within, 
Gnaws its own bowels, and bursts in its own sin : 
Impatient of the change he scorns to bow, 
And never impotent in power till now ; 
Ardent with hate, and with revenge distract, 
A will to new attempts, but none to act ; 
Yet all seraphic, and in just degree, 
Suited to spirits' high sense of misery, 
Derived from loss which nothing can repair, 
And room for nothing left but mere despair. 
Here's finish'd Hell ! what fiercer fire can burn ? 
Enough ten thousand worlds to overturn. 

Hell's but the frenzy of defeated pride, 
Seraphic treason's strong impetuous tide, 
Where vile ambition, disappointed first, 
To its own rage and boundless hatred curst ; 
The hate's fann'd up to fury, that to flame, 
For fire and fury are in kind the same ; 
These burn unquenchable in every face, 
And the word ' endless' constitutes the place. 

O state of being ! where being's the only grief, 
And the chief torture's to be darnn'd to life ; 
O life ! the only thing they have to hate ; 
The finish'd torment of a future state, 
Complete in all the parts of endless misery, 
And worse ten thousand times than not to be ! 
Could but the darnn'd th' immortal law repeal, 
And devils die, there'd be an end of hell ; 
Could they that thing called ' being' annihilate, 
There'd be no sorrows in a future state ; 
The wretch, whose crimes had shut him out on high, 
Could be revenged on God himself, and die ; 
Job's wife was in the right, and always we ) 

Might end by death all human misery, > 

Might have it in our choice, to be, or not to be. ) 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 35 



CHAP. IV. 



Of the name of the Devil, his original, and the nature 
of his circumstances since he has been called by that 
name. 

The Scripture is the first writing on earth where we 
find the Devil called by his own proper distinguishing 
denomination, Devil, or the Destroyer a ; nor indeed is 
there any other author of antiquity, or of sufficient 
authority, which says anything of that kind about him. 

Here he makes his first appearance in the world, 
and on that occasion he is called the serpent ; but the 
serpent however, since made to signify the Devil, when 
spoken of in general terms, was but the Devil's 
representative, or the Devil in quovis vehiculo, for that 
time, clothed in a bodily shape, acting under cover and 
in disguise ; or, if you will, the Devil in masquerade : 
nay, if we believe Mr. Milton, the angel Gabriel's 
spear had such a secret powerful influence, as to make 
him strip of a sudden, and with a touch to unmask, 
and stand upright in his naked original shape, mere 
Devil, without any disguises whatsoever. 

Now as we go to the Scripture for much of his 
history, so we must go there also for some of his names ; 
and he has a great variety of names indeed, as his 
several mischievous doings guide us to conceive of 
him. The truth is, all the ancient names given him, 
of which the Scripture is full, seem to be originals 
derived from and adapted to the several steps he has 
taken, and the several shapes he has appeared in to do 
mischief in the world. 

a The meaning of the word Devil, is destroyer. See Pool 
upon Acts xiii. 10. 

b2 



36 THE POLITICAL 

Here he is called the serpent, Gen. iii. 1. 

The old serpent, Rev. xii. 9. 

The great red dragon, Rev. xii. 3. 

The accuser of the brethren, Rev. xii. 10. 

The enemy, Matt, xxiii. 29. 

Satan, Job i. ; Zech. iii. 1, 2. 

Belial, 2 Cor. vi. 15. 

Beelzebub, Matt. xii. 24. 

Mammon, Matt. vi. 24. 

The angel of light, 2 Cor. xi. 14. 

The angel of the bottomless pit, Rev. ix. 11. 

The prince of the power of the air, Eph. ii. 2. 

Lucifer, Isa. xiv. 12. 

Abbaddon, or Apollion, Rev. ix. 11. 

Legion, Mark v. 9. 

The god of this world, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 

The foul spirit, Mark ix. 5. 

The unclean spirit, Mark i. 27. 

The lying spirit, 2 Chron. xxx. 

The tempter, Matt. iv. 3. 

The son of the morning, Isa. xiv. 12. 
But to sum them all up in one, he is called in the 
New Testament plain Devil ; all his other names are 
varied according to the custom of speech, and the 
dialects of the several nations where he is spoken of; 
but in a word, Devil is the common name of the Devil 
in all the known languages of the earth. Nay, all the 
mischief he is empowered to do, is in Scripture placed 
to his account, under the particular title of the Devil, 
not of devils in the plural number, though they are 
sometimes mentioned too ; but in the singular it is the 
identical individual Devil, in and under whom all the 
little devils, and all the great devils, if such there be, 
are supposed to act ; nay, they are supposed to be 
governed and directed by him. Thus we are told in 
Scripture of the works of the devil, 1 John iii. 8; ofi 
casting out the devil, Mark i. 34; of resisting the 
devil, James iv. 5 ; of our Saviour being tempted of the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 37 

devil, Matt. iv. 1 ; of Simon Magus, a child of the 
devil, Acts xiii. 10; the devil came down in a great 
wrath, Rev. xii. 12, and the like. And according to 
this usage in speech we go on to this day, and all the 
infernal things we converse with in the world, are 
fathered upon the Devil, as one undivided simple 
essence, by how many agents soever working : every 
thing evil, frightful in appearance, wicked in its 
actings, horrible in its manner, monstrous in its effects, 
is called the Devil ; in a word, Devil is the common 
name for all devils, that is to say, for all evil spirits, 
all evil powers, all evil works, and even all evil things : 
yet it is remarkable the Devil is no Old Testament 
word, and we never find it used in all the Old Testament 
but four times, and then not once in the singular number, 
and not once to signify Satan, as it is now understood. 

It is true, the learned give a great many differing 
interpretations of the word Devil ; the English com- 
mentators tell us, it means a destroyer, others that it 
signifies a deceiver, and the Greeks derive it from a 
calumniator, or false witness ; for we find that Calumny 
was a goddess, to whom the Athenians built altars 
and offered sacrifices upon some solemn occasions, and 
they call her Aia^oKri, from whence came the masculine 
AidfloXos, which we translate Devil. 

Thus we take the name of Devil to signify not per- 
sons only, but actions and habits ; making imaginary 
devils, and transforming that substantial creature 
called Devil, into everything noxious and offensive : 
thus St. Francis being tempted by the Devil in the 
shape of a bag of money lying in the highway, the saint 
having discovered the fraud, whether seeing his cloven 
foot hang out of the purse, or whether he distinguished 
him by his smell of sulphur, or how otherwise, authors 
are not agreed ; but, I say, the saint, having discovered 
the cheat, and outwitted the Devil, took occasion to 
preach that eminent sermon to his disciples, where his 
text was, Money is the Devil. 



38 THE POLITICAL 

Nor, upon the whole, is any wrong done to the Devil 
by this kind of treatment ; it only gives him the sove- 
reignty of the whole army of Hell, and making all the 
numberless legions of the bottomless pit servants, or, 
as the Scripture calls them, angels to Satan the grand 
devil; and all their actions, performances, and achieve- 
ments, are justly attributed to him, not as the prince of 
devils only, but the emperor of devils, the prince of 
all the princes of devils. 

Under this denomination then of Devil, all the 
powers of Hell, all the princes of the air, all the black 
armies of Satan are comprehended, and in this manner 
they are to be understood in this whole work, mutatis 
mutandis , according to the several circumstances in 
which we are to speak of them. 

This being premised, and my authority being so 
good, Satan must not take it ill if I treat him after 
the manner of men, and give him those titles which he 
is best known by among us ; for indeed, having so 
many, it is not very easy to call him out of his name. 

However, as I am obliged by the duty of an historian 
to decency, as well as impartiality, so I thought it ne- 
cessary, before I used too much freedom with Satan, 
to produce authentic documents, and bring antiquity 
upon the stage, to justify the manner of my writing, 
and let you see I shall describe him in no colours, nor 
call him by any name, but what he has been known by 
for many ages before me. 

And now, though being writing to the common un- 
derstanding of my reader, I am obliged to treat Satan 
very coarsely, and to speak of him in the common ac- 
ceptation, calling him plain Devil ; a word which in this 
mannerly age is not so sonorous as others might be, 
and which by the error of the times is apt to prejudice 
us against his person ; yet it must be acknowledged he 
has a great many other names and surnames which he 
might be known by, of a less obnoxious import than 
that of Devil, or Destroyer, &c. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 39 

Mr. Milton, indeed, wanting titles of honour to give 
to the leaders of Satan's host, is obliged to borrow se- 
veral of his Scripture names, and bestow them upon 
his infernal heroes, whom he makes the generals and 
leaders of the armies of Hell; and so he makes Beelze- 
bub, Lucifer, Belial, Mammon, and some others, to be 
the names of particular devils, members of Satan's 
upper house, or Pandemonium ; whereas, indeed, these 
are all names proper and peculiar to Satan himself. 

The Scripture also has some names of a coarser 
kind, by which the Devil is understood; as particularly, 
as is noted already, in the Apocalypse, he is called the 
Great Red Dragon, the Beast, the Old Serpent, and 
the like : but take it in the Scripture, or where you 
will in history, sacred or profane, you will find that 
in general the Devil is, as I have said above, his 
ordinary name in all languages and in all nations, the 
name by which he and his works are principally dis- 
tinguished : also the Scripture, besides that it often 
gives him this name, speaks of the works of the devil, 
of the subtilty of the devil, of casting out devils, of 
being tempted of the devil, of being possessed with a 
devil ; and so many other expressions of that kind, as 
I have said already, are made use of for us to under- 
stand the evil spirit by, that in a word, Devil is the 
common name of all wicked spirits : for Satan is no 
more the devil, as if he alone was so, and all the rest 
were a diminutive species who did not go by that 
name ; but, I say, even in Scripture, every spirit, whe- 
ther under his dominion or out of his dominion, is 
called the Devil, and is as much a real devil, that is to 
say, a condemned spirit, and employed in the same 
wicked work, as Satan himself. 

His name, then, being thus ascertained, and his exist- 
ence acknowledged, it should be a little inquired what 
he is ; we believe there is such a thing, such a creature 
as the Devil ; and that he has been, and may still with 



40 THE POLITICAL 

propriety of speech, and without injustice to his cha- 
racter, be called by his ancient name, Devil. 

But who is he ? what is his original ? whence came 
he ? and what is his present station and condition ? for 
these things and these inquiries are very necessary to 
his history, nor, indeed, can any part of his history be 
complete without them. 

That he is of an ancient and noble original must be 
acknowledged, for he is heaven-born and of angelic 
race, as has been touched already ; if Scripture evi- 
dence may be of any weight in the question, there is 
no room to doubt the genealogy of the Devil ; he is 
not only spoken of as an angel, but as a fallen angel, 
one that had been in heaven, had beheld the face of God 
in his full effulgence of glory, and had surrounded the 
throne of the Most High ; from whence, commencing 
rebel, and being expelled, he was cast down, down, 
down, God and the Devil himself only know where ; for 
indeed we cannot say that any man on earth knows it ; 
and wherever it is, he has, ever since man's creation, 
been a plague to him, been a tempter, a deluder, a 
calumniator, an enemy, and the object of man's horror 
and aversion. 

As his original is heaven-born, and his race an- 
gelic, so the angelic nature is evidently placed in a 
class superior to the human, and this the Scripture is 
express in also ; when speaking of man, it says, he 
made him a little loiuer than the angels. 

Thus the Devil, as mean thoughts as you may have 
of him, is of a better family than any of you, nay, than 
the best gentlemen of you all ; what he may be fallen 
to, is one thing, but what he is fallen from, is another ; 
and therefore I must tell my learned and reverend 
friend J. W., LLD., when he spoke so rudely of the 
Devil lately, in my opinion he abused his betters. 

Nor is the Scripture more a help to us in the search 
after the Devil's original, than it is in our search after 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 41 

his nature ; it is true, authors are not agreed about 
his age, what time he was created, how many years he 
enjoyed his state of blessedness before he fell, or how 
many years he continued with his whole army in a 
state of darkness before the creation of man. It is 
supposed it might be a considerable space, and that it 
was a part of his punishment too, being all the while 
inactive, unemployed, having no business, nothing to 
do but gnawing his own bowels, and rolling in the 
agony of his own self-reproaches, being a hell to him- 
self in reflecting on the glorious state from whence he 
was fallen. 

How long he remained thus, it is true we have no 
light into from history, and but little from tradition ; 
Rabbi Judah says, the Jews were of the opinion that 
he remained twenty thousand years in that condition, 
and that the world shall continue twenty thousand 
more, in which he shall find work enough to satisfy 
his mischievous desires ; but he shows no authority for 
his opinion. 

Indeed, let the Devil have been as idle as they think 
he was before, it must be acknowledged that now he is 
the most busy, vigilant, and diligent, of all God's 
creatures, and very full of employment too, such as it 
is. 

Scripture, indeed, gives us light into the enmity 
there is between the two natures, the diabolical and 
the human ; the reason of it, and how and by what 
means the power of the Devil is restrained by the 
Messiah ; and to those who are willing to trust to gos- 
pel light, and believe what the Scripture says of the 
Devil, there may much of his history be discovered ; 
and therefore those that list may go there for a fuller 
account of the matter. 

But to reserve all Scripture evidence of these things, 
as a magazine in store for the use of those with whom 
Scripture testimony is of force, I must for the present 
turn to other inquiries, being now directing my story 



42 THE POLITICAL 

to an age, wherein to be driven to Revelation and 
Scripture assertions is esteemed giving up the dispute ; 
people now-a-days must have demonstration ; and, in a 
word, nothing will satisfy the age, but such evidence 
as perhaps the nature of the question will not admit. 

It is hard, indeed, to bring demonstrations in such a 
case as this : No man has seen God at any time, says 
the Scripture, 1 John iv. 12. So the Devil, being a 
spirit incorporeal, an angel of light, and consequently 
not visible in his own substance, nature, and form, it 
may in some sense be said, No man has seen the Devil 
at any time ; all those pretences of frenziful and 
fanciful people, who tell us . they have seen the 
Devil, I shall examine, and perhaps expose by them- 
selves. 

It might take up a great deal of our time here, to 
inquire whether the Devil has any particular shape or 
personality of substance, which can be visible to us, 
felt, heard, or understood, and which he cannot alter ; 
and then, what shapes or appearances the Devil has 
at any time taken upon him ; and whether he can 
really appear in a body which might be handled and 
seen, and yet so as to know it to have been the Devil 
at the time of his appearing ; but this also I defer, as 
not of weight in the present inquiry. 

We have divers accounts of witches conversing with 
the Devil ; the Devil in a real body, with all the ap- 
pearance of a body of a man or woman appearing 
to them ; also of having a familiar, as they call it, 
an incubus, or little devil, which sucks their bodies, 
runs away with them into the air, and the like ; much 
of this is said, but much more than it is easy to prove, 
and we ought to give but a just proportion of credit to 
those things. 

As to his borrowed shapes and his subtle trans- 
formings, that we have such open testimony of, that 
there is no room for any question about it ; and when 
I come to that part, I shall be obliged rather to give a 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 43 

history of the fact, than enter into any dissertation 
upon the nature and reason of it. 

I do not find in any author, whom we can call cre- 
ditable, that even in those countries where the domi- 
nion of Satan is more particularly established, and 
where they may be said to worship him in a more par- 
ticular manner as a devil ; which some tell us the 
Indians in America did, who worshipped the Devil 
that he might not hurt them ; yet, I say, I do not 
find that even there the Devil appeared to them in 
any' particular constant shape or personality peculiar to 
himself. 

Scripture and history, therefore, giving us no light 
into that part of the question, I conclude and lay it 
down, not as my opinion only, but as what all ages 
seem to concur in, that the Devil has no particular 
body; that he is a spirit, and that though he may, 
Proteus-like, assume the appearance of either man or 
beast, yet it must be some borrowed shape, some as- 
sumed figure, pro hac vice, and that he has no visible 
body of his own. 

I thought it needful to discuss this as a preliminary, 
and that the next discourse might go upon a cer- 
tainty in this grand point, namely, that the Devil, how- 
ever he may for his particular occasions put himself 
into a great many shapes, and clothe himself, perhaps, 
with what appearances he pleases, yet that he is him- 
self still a mere spirit, that he retains the seraphic na- 
ture, is not visible by our eyes, which are human and 
organic, neither can he act with the ordinary powers, 
or in the ordinary manner as bodies do ; and, there- 
fore, when he has thought fit to descend to the mean- 
nesses of disturbing and frightening children and old 
women, by noises and knockings, dislocating the chairs 
and stools, breaking windows, and such-like little am- 
bulatory things, which would seem to be below the 
dignity of his character, and which, in particular, is or- 
dinarily performed by organic powers, yet even then 



44 THE POLITICAL 

he has thought fit not to be seen, and rather to make the 
poor people believe he had a real shape and body, with 
hands to act, mouth to speak, and the like, than to 
give proof of it in common to the whole world, by 
showing himself, and acting visibly and openly, as a 
body usually and ordinarily does. 

Nor is it any disadvantage to the Devil, that his se- 
raphic nature is not confined or imprisoned in a body 
or shape, suppose that shape to be what monstrous 
thing we would ; for this would, indeed, confine his 
actings within the narrow sphere *of the organ or body 
to which he was limited ; and though you were to sup- 
pose the body to have wings for a velocity of motion 
equal to spirit, yet if it had not a power of invisibility 
too, and a capacity of conveying itself, undiscovered, 
into all the secret recesses of mankind, and the same 
secret art or capacity of insinuation, suggestion, accu- 
sation, &c, by which his wicked designs are now pro- 
pagated, and all his other devices assisted, by which he 
deludes and betrays mankind ; I say, he would be no 
more a devil, that is, a destroyer, no more a deceiver, 
and no more a Satan, that is, a dangerous arch-enemy 
to the souls of men ; nor would it be any difficulty to 
mankind to shun and avoid him, as I shall make plain 
in the other part of his history. 

Had the Devil from the beginning been embodied, as 
he could not have been invisible to us, whose souls, 
equally seraphic, are only prescribed by being embodied 
and incased in flesh and blood as we are ; so he 
would have been no more a devil to anybody but him- 
self: the imprisonment in a body, had the powers of 
that body been all that we can conceive to make him 
formidable to us, would yet have been a hell to him. 
Consider him as a conquered exasperated rebel, re- 
taining all that fury and swelling ambition, that hatred 
of God, and envy at his creatures which dwells now 
in his enraged spirits as a Devil ; yet suppose him to 
have been condemned to organic powers, confined to 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 45 

corporeal motion, and restrained as a body must be 
supposed to restrain a spirit ; it must, at the same time, 
suppose him to be effectually disabled from all the me- 
thods he is now allowed to make use of, for exerting his 
rage and enmity against God, any further than as he 
might suppose it to affect his Maker at second hand, 
by wounding his glory through the sides of his weakest 
creature, man. 

He must, certainly, be thus confined, because body 
can only act upon body, not upon spirit ; no species 
being empowered to act out of the compass of its own 
sphere : he might have been empowered, indeed, to 
have acted terrible and even destructive things upon 
mankind, especially if this body had any powers given 
it which mankind had not, by which man would be 
overmatched and not be in a condition of self-defence ; 
for example, suppose him to have had wings to have 
flown in the air ; or to be invulnerable, and that no 
human invention, art, or engine, could hurt, ensnare, 
captivate, or restrain him. 

But this is to suppose the righteous and wise Creator 
to have made a creature and not be able to defend and 
preserve him, or have left him defenceless to the mercy 
of another of his own creatures, whom he had given 
power to destroy him : this indeed, might have oc- 
casioned a general idolatry, and made mankind, as the 
Americans do to this day, worship the Devil, that he 
might not hurt them ; but it could not have prevented 
the destruction of mankind, supposing the Devil to 
have had malice equal to his power ; and he must put 
on a new nature, be compassionate, generous, benefi- 
cent, and steadily good in sparing the rival enemy he 
was able to destroy, or he must have ruined mankind. 
In short, he must have ceased to have been a devil, 
and must have reassumed his original, angelic, heavenly 
nature, filled with the principles of love, to delight in 
the works of his Creator, and bent to propagate his 
glory and interest ; or he must have put an end to the 



46 THE POLITICAL 

race of man, whom it would be in his power to destroy, 
and oblige his Maker to create a new species, or fortify 
the old with some kind of defence which must be in- 
vulnerable, and which his fiery darts could not penerate. 

On this occasion suffer me to make an excursion 
from the usual style of this work, and with some solem- 
nity to express my thoughts thus : 

How glorious is the wisdom and goodness of the 
great Creator of the world ! in thus restraining these 
seraphic outcasts from the power of assuming human or 
organic bodies, which, could they do, invigorating 
them with the supernatural powers, which, as seraphs 
and angels, they now possess and might exert, they 
would be able even to fright mankind from the face of 
the earth, destroy and confound God's creation ; nay, 
even as they are, were not their power limited, they 
might destroy the creation itself, reverse and overturn 
nature, and put the world into a general conflagration : 
but were those immortal spirits embodied, though they 
were not permitted to confound nature, they would be 
able to harass poor, weak, and defenceless man out of 
his wits, and render him perfectly useless, either to his 
Maker or himself. 

But the dragon is chained, the Devil's power is 
limited ; he has indeed a vastly extended empire, being 
prince of the air; having, at least, the whole atmo- 
sphere to range in, and how far that atmosphere 
is extended, is not yet ascertained by the nicest obser- 
vations ; I say, at least, because we do not yet know 
how far he may be allowed to make excursions beyond 
the atmosphere of this globe into the planetary worlds, 
and what power he may exercise in all the habitable 
parts of the solar system ; nay, of all the other solar 
systems, which, for aught we know, may exist in the 
mighty extent of created space, and of which you may 
hear further in its order. 

But let his power be what it will there, we are sure 
it is limited here, and that in two particulars ; first, he 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 47 

is limited, as above, from assuming body or bodily shapes 
and substance ; and secondly, from exerting seraphic 
powers, and acting with that supernatural force, which, 
as an angel, he was certainly vested with before the 
fall, and which we are not certain is yet taken from him ; 
or at most, we do not know how much it may or may 
not be diminished by his degeneracy, and by the blow 
given him at his expulsion : this we are certain, that 
be his power greater or less, he is restrained from the 
exercise of it in this world ; and he, who was once 
equal to the angel who killed a hundred and eighty 
thousand men in one night, is not able now, without a 
new commission, to take away the life of one Job, 
nor to touch anything he had. 

But let us consider him then limited and restrained as 
he is, yet he remains a mighty, a terrible, an immortal 
being: infinitely superior to man, as well in the dignity of 
his nature, as in the dreadful powers he retains still about 
him ; and though the brainsick heads of our enthusias- 
tics paint him blacker than he is, and, as I have said, 
represent him clothed with terrors that do not really 
belong to him ; as if the power of good and evil was 
wholly vested in him, and that he was placed in the 
throne of his Maker, to distribute both punishments and 
rewards ; terrifying and deluding fanciful people about 
him till they turn their heads, and fright them into a 
belief that the Devil will let them alone if they do 
such and such good things, or carry them away with 
him, they know not whither, if they do not ; as if the 
Devil, whose proper business is mischief, seducing and 
deluding mankind, and drawing him in to be a rebel 
like himself, should threaten to seize upon them, carry 
them away, and, in a word, fall upon them to hurt them, 
if they did evil, and on the contrary, be favourable and 
civil to them, if they did well. 

Thus a poor deluded country fellow in our town, that 
had lived a wicked, abominable, debauched life, was 
frightened with an apparition, as he called it, of the Devil ; 



48 THE POLITICAL 

he fancied that he spoke to him, and telling his tale to 
a good honest Christian gentleman his neighbour, that 
had a little more sense than himself, the gentleman 
asked him if he was sure he really saw the Devil ? Yes, 
yes, sir, says he, I saw him very plain ; and so they 
began the following discourse. 

Gent. See him ! see the Devil ! art thou sure of it 
Thomas ? 

Tho. Yes, yes, I am sure enough of it master ; to be 
sure it was the Devil. 

Gent. And how do you know 'twas the Devil, 
Thomas ? had you ever seen the Devil before ? 

Tho. No, no, I had never seen him before, to be 
sure, but for all that I know it was the Devil. 

Gent. Well, if you're sure, Thomas, there's no con- 
tradicting you; pray what clothes had he on ? 

Tho. Nay, sir, don't jest with me, he had no clothes 
on, he was clothed with fire and brimstone. 

Gent. Was it dark or daylight when you saw him? 

Tho. O ! it was very dark, for it was midnight. 

Gent. How could you see him then? did you see 
by the light of the fire you speak of? 

Tho. No, no, he gave me no light himself, but I 
saw him for all that. 

Gent. But was it within doors, or out in the street ? 

Tho. It was within, it was in my own chamber, 
when I was just going into bed, that 1 saw him. 

Gent. Well then, you had a candle, hadn't you ? 

Tho. Yes, I had a candle, but it burnt as blue ! and 
as dim ! 

Gent. Well, but if the Devil was clothed with fire 
and brimstone, he must give you some light ; there 
can't be such a fire as you speak of but it must give a 
light with it. 

Tho. No, no, he gave no light, but I smelt his fire 
and brimstone ; he left a smell of it behind him, when 
he was gone. 

Gent. Well, so you say he had fire, but gave no 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 49 

light ; it was a devilish fire, indeed ; did it feel warm ? 
was the room hot while he was in it ? 

Tho. No, no, but I was hot enough without it, for it 
put me into a great sweat with the fright. 

Gent. Very well, he was all in fire, you say, but 
without light or heat, only it seems he stunk of brim- 
stone ; pray what shape was he in ? what was he like ? 
for you say you saw him. 

Tho. O ! sir, I saw two great staring saucer eyes, 
enough to frighten anybody out of their wits. 

Gent. And was that all you saw ? 

Tho. No, I saw his cloven-foot very plain ; 'twas as 
big as one of our bullock's that goes to plough. 

Gent. So you saw none of his body but his eyes 
and his feet ? a fine vision, indeed ! 

Tho. No, that was enough to send me going. 

Gent. Going ! what did you run away from him ? 

Tho. No, but I fled into bed at one jump, and sunk 
down, and pull'd the bedclothes quite over me. 

Gent. And what did you do that for ? 

Tho. To hide myself from such a frightful crea- 
ture. 

Gent. Why, if it had really been the Devil, do you 
think the bedclothes would have secured you from 
him? 

Tho. Nay, I don't know, but in a fright it was all I 
could do. 

Gent. Nay, 'twas as wise as all the rest ; but come, 
Thomas, to be a little serious, pray did he speak to 
you? 

Tho. Yes, yes, I heard a voice, but who it was the 
Lord knows. 

Gent. What kind of voice was it? was it like a man's 
voice ? 

Tho. No; it was a hoarse. ugly noise, like the croak- 
ing of a frog, and it called me by my name twice, Tho- 
mas Dawson, Thomas Dawson ! 
Gent. Well, did you answer ? 
h. d. e 



50 THE POLITICAL. 

Tho. No, not I, I could not have spoken a word for 
my life ; why, I was frightened to death! 

Gent. Did it say anything else ? 

Tho. Yes, when it saw that I did not speak, it said, 
Thomas Dawson, Thomas Dawson, you are a wicked 

wretch ; you lay with Jenny S last night ; if you 

don't repent, I will take you away alive and carry you 
to hell, and you shall be damn'd, you wretch. 

Gent. And was it true, Thomas ? did you lie with 
Jenny S the night before ? 

Tho. Indeed, master, it was true ; but I was very 
sorry afterwards. 

Gent. But how should the Devil know it, Thomas ? 

Tho. Nay, he knows it to be sure ; why, they say he 
knows everything. 

Gent. Well, but why should he be angry at that? 
he would rather bid you lie with her again, and en- 
courage you to lie with forty whores, than hinder you : 
this cant be the Devil, Thomas. 

Tho. Yes, yes, sir, 'twas the Devil to be sure. 

Gent. But he bid you repent too, you say ? 

Tho. Yes, he threatened me if I did not. 

Gent. Why, Thomas, do you think the Devil would 
have you repent? 

Tho. Why no, that's true too ; I don't know what to 
say to that ; but what could it be ? 'twas the Devil to 
be sure, it could be nobody else. 

Gent. No, no, 'twas neither the Devil, Thomas, nor 
anybody else, but your own frightened imagination, Tho- 
mas ; you had lain with that wench, and being a young 
sinner of that kind, your conscience terrified you, told 
you the Devil would fetch you away, and you would 
be damn'd ; and you were so persuaded it would be 
so, that you at last imagined he was come for you in- 
deed ; that you saw him and heard him ; whereas, you 

may depend upon it, if Jenny S will let you lie 

with her every night, the Devil will hold the candle, 
or do anything to forward it, but will never disturb 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 51 

you ; he's too much a friend to your wickedness ; it 
could never be the Devil, Thomas ; 'twas only your 
own guilt frightened you, and that was devil enough, 
too, if you knew the worst of it; you need no other 
enemy. 

Tho. Why that's true, master, one would think the 
Devil should not bid me repent, that's true ; but cer- 
tainly 'twas the Devil for all that. 

Now Thomas was not the only man that, having 
committed a flagitious crime, had been deluded by his 
own imagination, and the power of fancy, to think the 
Devil was come for him ; whereas, the Devil, to give 
him his due, is too honest to pretend to such things ; 
it is his business to persuade men to offend, not to re- 
pent, and he professes no other. He may press men to 
this or that action, by telling them it is no sin, no of- 
fence, no breach of God's law, and the like, when 
really it is both ; but to press them to repent, when 
they have offended, that is quite out of his way ; it is 
none of his business, nor does he pretend to it ; there- 
fore, let no man charge the Devil with what he is not 
concerned in. 

But to return to his person ; he is, as I have said, 
notwithstanding his lost glory, a mighty, a terrible, and 
an immortal spirit ; he is himself called a Prince, the 
Prince of the Power of the Air, the Prince of Dark- 
ness, the Prince of Devils, and the like, and his at- 
tending spirits are called his angels : so that however 
Satan has lost the glory and rectitude of his nature, 
by his apostate state, yet he retains a greatness and 
magnificence, which places him above our rank, and 
indeed above our conception ; for we know not what 
he is, any more than we know what the blessed angels 
are ; of whom we can say no more than that they are 
ministering spirits, &c, as the Scripture has described 
them. 

Two things, however, may give us some insight into 
the nature of the Devil, in the present state he is 

e2 



52 THE POLITICAL 

in ; and these we have a clear discovery of in the 
whole series of his conduct from the beginning. 

1. That he is the vanquished but implacable enemy 
of God his creator, who has conquered him, and 
expelled him from the habitations of bliss ; on 
which account he is filled with envy, rage, malice, 
and all uncharitableness ; would dethrone God, 
and overturn the thrones of heaven, if it was in 
his power. 

2. That he is man's irreconcilable enemy ; not as he 
is a man, nor on his own account simply, nor for 
any advantage he (the Devil) can make by the 
ruin and destruction of man, but in mere envy at 
the felicity he is supposed to enjoy as Satan's 
rival ; and as he is appointed to succeed Satan 
and his angels in the possession of those glories 
from which they are fallen. 

And here I must take upon me to say, Mr. Milton 
makes a wrong judgment of the reason of Satan's 
resolution to disturb the felicity of man ; he tells ns it 
was merely to affront God his maker, rob him of the 
glory designed in his new work of creation, and to 
disappoint him in his main design, namely, the creating 
a new species of creatures, in a perfect rectitude of 
soul, and after his own image, from whom he might 
expect a new fund of glory should be raised, and who 
was to appear as the triumph of the Messiah's victory 
over the Devil. In all which Satan could not be fool 
enough not to know that he should be disappointed by 
the same power which had so eminently counteracted 
his rage before. 

But, I believe, the Devil went upon a much more 
probable design ; and though he may be said to act 
upon a meaner principle than that of pointing his rage 
at the personal glory of his Creator, yet 1 own, that in 
my opinion, it was by much the more rational under- 
taking, and more likely to succeed ; and that was, that 
whereas he perceived this new species of creatures had 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 53 

a sublime as well as a human part, and were made 
capable of possessing the mansions of eternal beatitude, 
from whence he (Satan) and his angels were expelled 
and irretrievably banished ; envy at such a rival moved 
him by all possible artifice, (for he saw himself de- 
prived of capacity to do it by force,) to render him un- 
worthy, like himself; and that bringing him to fall into 
rebellion and disobedience, he might see his rival 
damned w T ith him ; and those who were intended to 
fill up the empty spaces in heaven, made so by the 
absence of so many millions of fallen angels, be cast 
out into the same darkness with them. 

How he came to know that this new species of 
creatures were liable to such imperfection, is best ex- 
plained by the Devil's prying, vigilant disposition, 
judging or leading him to judge by himself, (for he was 
as near being infallible as any of God's creatures had 
been,) and then inclining him to try whether it was so 
or no. 

Modern naturalists, especially some who have not 
so large a charity for the fair sex as I have, tell us, 
that as soon as ever Satan saw the woman, and looked 
in her face, he saw it evidently that she was the best 
formed creature to make a fool of, and the best to make 
a hypocrite of, that could be made, and therefore the 
most fitted for his purpose. 

1. He saw by some thwart lines in her face, (legible, 
perhaps, to himself only,) that there was a throne ready 
prepared for the sin of pride to sit in state upon, 
especially if it took an early possession. Eve you may 
suppose was a perfect beauty, if ever such a thing may 
be supposed in the human frame ; her figure being so 
extraordinary was the groundwork of his project; 
there needed no more than to bring her to be vain of 
it, and to conceit that it either was so, or was infinitely 
more sublime and beautiful than it really was ; and 
having thus tickled her vanity, to introduce pride 
gradually, till at last he might persuade her that she 



54 THE POLITICAL 

was really angelic, or of heavenly race, and wanted 
nothing but to eat the forbidden fruit, and that would 
make her something more excellent still. 

2. Looking further into her frame, and with a nearer 
view to her imperfections, he saw room to conclude 
that she was of a constitution easy to be seduced, and 
especially by flattering her, raising a commotion in her 
soul, and a disturbance among her passions ; and ac- 
cordingly he set himself to work, to disturb her repose, 
and put dreams of great things into her head ; together 
with something of a nameless nature, which (however 
some have been ill-natured enough to suggest) I shall 
not injure the Devil so much as to mention, without 
better evidence. 

3. But, besides this, he found, upon the very first 
survey of her outside, something so very charming in 
her mien and behaviour, so engaging as well as agree- 
able in the whole texture of her person, and withal 
such a sprightly wit, such a vivacity of parts, such a 
fluency of tongue, and above all, such a winning pre- 
vailing whine in her smiles, or at least in her tears, 
that he made no doubt if he could but once delude her, 
she would easily be brought to delude Adam, whom he 
found set not only a great value upon her person, but 
was perfectly captivated by her charms ; in a word, he 
saw plainly, that if he could but ruin her, he should 
easily make a devil of her, to ruin her husband, and 
draw him into any gulf of mischief, were it ever so 
black and dreadful, that she should first fall into her- 
self. How far some may be wicked enough, from hence, 
to suggest of the fair sex, that they have been devils to 
their husbands ever since, I cannot say ; I hope they 
will not be so unmerciful to discover truths of such 
fatal consequence, though they should come to their 
knowledge. 

Thus subtle and penetrating has Satan been from 
the beginning ; and who can wonder that, upon these 
discoveries made into the woman's inside, he went 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 55 

immediately to work with her, rather than with Adam ? 
not but that one would think, if Adam was fool enough 
to be deluded by his wife, the Devil might have seen 
so much of it in his countenance, as to have encouraged 
him to make his attack directly upon him, and not go 
round about, beating the bush, and ploughing with the 
heifer ; setting upon the woman first, and then setting 
her upon her husband, who might as easily have been 
imposed upon as she. 

Other commentators upon this critical text suggest 
to us, that Eve was not so pleased with the hopes of 
being made a goddess ; that the pride of a seraphic 
knowledge did not so much work upon her imagination 
to bring her to consent, as a certain secret notion, in- 
fused into her head by the same wicked instrument, 
that she should be wiser than Adam, and should by 
the superiority of her understanding, necessarily have 
the government over him ; which, at present, .she was 
sensible she had not, he being master of a particular 
air of gravity and majesty, as well as of strength, in- 
finitely superior to her. 

This is an ill-natured suggestion ; but it must be con- 
fessed, the impatient desire of government which (since 
that) appears in the general behaviour of the sex, and 
particularly of governing husbands, leaves too much 
room to legitimate the supposition. 

The philosophers and expositors who are of this 
opinion, add to it, that this being her original crime, 
or the particular temptation to that crime, Heaven 
thought fit to show his justice, in making her more 
entire subjection to her husband be a part of the curse, 
that she might read her sin in the punishment, viz. 
He shall rule over thee. 

I only give the general hint of these things as they 
appear recorded in the annals of Satan's first tyranny, 
and at the beginning of his government in the world ; 
those that would be more particularly informed, may 
inquire of him and know further. 



56 THE POLITICAL 

I cannot, however, but observe here, with some regret, 
how it appears by the consequence, that the Devil was 
not mistaken when he made an early judgment of 
Mrs. Eve ; and how Satan really went the right way to 
work, to judge of her ; it is certain the Devil had no- 
thing to do but to look in her face, and upon a near 
steady view he might easily see there, an instrument 
for his turn ; nor has he failed to make her a tool ever 
since, by the very methods which he at first proposed ; 
to which, perhaps, he has made some additions in the 
corrupting her composition, as well as her understand- 
ing ; qualifying her to be a complete snare to the poor 
weaker vessel man ; to wheedle him with her syren's 
voice, abuse him with her smiles, delude him with 
her crocodile tears, and sometimes cock her crown at 
him, and terrify him with the thunder of her treble ; 
making the effeminated male apple-eater tremble at 
the noise of that very tongue which at first com- 
manded him to sin. For it is yet a debate, which 
the learned have not decided, whether she persuaded 
and entreated him, or like a true she-tyrant, exercised 
her authority and obliged him to eat the forbidden 
fruit. 

And therefore a certain author, whose name, for 
fear of the sex's resentment, I conceal, brings her in, 
calling to Adam at a great distance, in an imperious 
haughty manner, beckoning to him with her hand, 
thus; Here, says she, you cowardly faint-hearted wretch, 
take this branch of heavenly fruit, eat and be a stupid 
fool no longer ; eat and be wise ; eat and be a god ; 
and know, to your eternal shame, that your wife has 
been made an enlightened goddess before you. 

He tells you, Adam hung back a little at first, and 
trembled, afraid to trespass : What ails the sot ? says 
the new termagant ; what are you afraid of? did God 
forbid you ! yes ; and why ? that we might not be 
knowing and wise like himself! what reason can there 
be that we, who have capacious souls, able to receive 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 57 

knowledge, should have it withheld ? take it, you fool, 
and eat ; don't you see how I am exalted in soul by it, 
and am quite another creature ? take it, I say, or, if 
you don't, I will go and cut down the tree, and you 
shall never eat any of it at all, and you shall be still 
a fool, and be governed by your wife for ever. 

Thus, if this interpretation of the thing is just, she 
scolded him into it, rated him, and brought him to it 
by the terror of her voice ; a thing that has retained 
a dreadful influence over him ever since ; nor have 
the greatest of Adam's successors, how light soever 
some husbands make of it in this age, been ever able, 
since that, to conceal their terror at the very sound ; 
nay, if we may believe history, it prevailed even among 
the gods ; not all the noise of Vulcan's hammers could 
silence the clamours of that outrageous whore, his 
goddess ; nay, even Jupiter himself led such a life with 
a termagant wife, that once, they say, Juno outscolded 
the noise of all his thunders, and was within an ace of 
brawling him out of heaven. But to return to the 
Devil. 

With these views he resolved, it seems, to attack the 
woman ; and if we consider him as a devil, and what 
he aimed at, and consider the fair prospect he had of 
success, I must confess I do not see who can blame 
him, or at least, how anything less could be expected 
from him ; but we shall meet with it again by and by. 



58 THE POLITICAL 



CHAR V. 



Of the station Satan had in heaven before he fell ; the 
nature and original of his crime, and some of Mr. 
Milton 7 s mistakes about it. 

Thus far I have gone upon general observation in this 
great affair of Satan and his empire in this world ; I 
now come to my title, and shall enter upon the histori- 
cal part, as the main work before me. 

Besides what has been said poetically, relating to 
the fall and wandering condition of the Devil and his 
host, which poetical part I offer only as an excursion, 
and desire it should be taken so ; I shall give you what 
I think is deduced from good originals on the part of 
Satan's story in a few words. 

He was one of the created angels, formed by the 
same omnipotent hand and glorious power who created 
the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein : this 
innumerable heavenly host, as we have reason to believe, 
contained angels of higher and lower stations, of greater 
and of lesser degree, expressed in the Scripture by 
thrones, dominions, and principalities : this, I think, we 
have as much reason to believe, as we have that there 
are stars in the firmament (or starry heavens) of greater 
and of lesser magnitude. 

What particular station among the immortal choir 
of angels this arch- seraph, this prince of devils, called 
Satan, was placed in before his expulsion, that, indeed, 
we cannot come at the knowledge of, at least, not with 
such an authority as may be depended upon ; but as 
from Scripture authority, he is placed at the head of all 
the apostate armies, after he was fallen, we cannot 
think it in the least assuming to say, that he might be 
supposed to be one of the principal agents in the rebel- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 59 

lion which happened in heaven, and, consequently, that 
he might be one of the highest in dignity there, before 
that rebellion. 

The higher his station, the lower, and with the 
greater precipitation, was his overthrow ; and therefore, 
those words, though taken in another sense, may very 
well be applied to him : Hoiv art thou fallen, Lucifer ! 
Son of the Morning ! 

Having granted the dignity of his person, and the 
high station in which he was placed among the heavenly 
host, it would come then necessarily to inquire into the 
nature of his fall, and, above all, a little into the reason 
of it ; certain it is, he did fall, was guilty of rebellion 
and disobedience, the just effect of pride; sins which, 
in that holy place, might well be called wonderful. 

But what to me is more wonderful, and which, I 
think, will be very ill accounted for, is, How came 
seeds of crime to rise in the angelic nature ? created 
in a state of perfect, unspotted holiness ? how was it 
first found in a place where no unclean thing can enter? 
how came ambition, pride, or envy, to generate there ? 
could there be offence where there was no crime ? could 
untainted purity breed corruption ? could the nature 
contaminate and infect, which was always partaking 
nourishment from, and taking in principles of, perfec- 
tion? 

Happy it is to me, that writing the history, not solv- 
ing the difficulties of Satan's affairs, is my province in 
this work ; that I am to relate the fact, not give rea- 
sons for it, or assign causes : if it was otherwise, I 
should break off at this difficulty, for I acknowledge I 
do not see through it ; neither do I think that the great 
Milton, after all his fine images and lofty excursions 
upon the subject, has left it one jot clearer than he 
found it. Some are of opinion, and among them the 

great Dr. B s, that crime broke in upon them at 

some interval when they omitted, but one moment, 
fixing their eyes and thoughts on the glories of the 



60 THE POLITICAL 

divine face, to admire and adore, which is the full em- 
ployment of angels ; but even this, though it goes as 
high as imagination can carry us, does not reach it, nor, 
to me, make it one jot more comprehensible than it 
was before ; all I can say to it here, is, that so it was, 
the fact was upon record, and the rejected troop are in 
being, (whose circumstances confess the guilt,) and still 
groan under the punishment. 

If you will bear with a poetic excursion upon the 
subject, not to solve, but to illustrate, the difficulty, 
take it in a few lines, thus : 

Thou sin of witchcraft ! first-born child of crime ! 

Produc'd before the bloom of time ; 
Ambition's maiden sin, in heaven conceiv'd, 

And who could have believed 
Defilement could in purity begin, 
And bright eternal day be soil'd with sin? 

Tell us, sly penetrating crime, 
How cam'st thou there, thou fault sublime ? 
How didst thou pass the adamantine gate, 

And into spirit thyself insinuate ? 

From what dark state ? from what deep place ? 

From what strange uncreated race ? 
Where was thy ancient habitation found, 
Before void chaos heard the forming sound? 

Wast thou a substance, or an airy ghost, 

A vapour flying in the fluid waste 
Of unconcocted air? 

And how at first didst thou come there ? 
Sure there was once a time when thou wert not ; 
By whom wast thou created ? and for what ? 
Art thou a stream from some contagious damp exhal'd? 

How should contagion be entail'd, 

On bright seraphic spirits, and in a place 
Where all's supreme, and glory fills the space ? 

No noxious vapour there could rise, 
For there no noxious matter lies ; 

Nothing that's evil could appear, 
Sin never could seraphic glory bear ; 
The brightness of the eternal face, 
Which fills as well as constitutes the place, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 61 

Would be a fire too hot for crime to bear, 
'T would calcine sin, or melt it into air. 
How then did first defilement enter in ? 
Ambition, thou first vital seed of sin ! 
Thou life of death ! how cam'st thou there ? 

In what bright form didst thou appear ? 

In what seraphic orb didst thou arise ? 
Surely that place admits of no disguise ; 

Eternal sight must know thee there, 

And being known, thou soon must disappear. 
But since the fatal truth we know, 

Without the matter whence or manner how : 
Thou high superlative of sin, 

Tell us thy nature, where thou didst begin ? 

The first degree of thy increase, 
Debauch'd the regions of eternal peace, 
And filPd the breasts of loyal angels there 
With the first treason and infernal war. 

Thou art the high extreme of pride, 
And dost o'er lesser crimes preside ; 
Not for the mean attempt of vice design'd, 
But to embroil the world and damn mankind. 
Transforming mischief, how hast thou procur'd 

That loss that's ne'er to be restor'd, 
And made the bright seraphic morning star 

In horrid monstrous shapes appear ? 

Satan, that while he dwelt in glorious light, 
W T as always then as pure as he was bright, 
That in effulgent rays of glory shone, 
ExcelPd by the eternal light, by Him alone ; 
Distorted now, and stript of innocence, 
And banish'd with thee from the high pre-eminence : 
How has the splendid seraph chang'd his face, 
Transform'd by thee, and like thy monstrous race ? 
Ugly as is the crime, for which he fell, ) 

Fitted by thee to make a local hell, > 

For such must be the place where either of you dwell. ) 

Thus, as I told you, I only moralise upon the subject, 
but as to the difficulty, I must leave it as I find it, un- 
less, as I hinted at first, I could prevail with Satan to 
set pen to paper, and write this part of his own history ; 



62 THE POLITICAL 

no question but he could let us into the secret. But to 
be plain, I doubt I shall tell so many plain truths of 
the Devil, in this history, and discover so many of 
his secrets, which it is not for his interest to have dis- 
covered, that, before I have done, the Devil and I may 
not be so good friends as you may suppose we are ; at 
least, not friends enough to obtain such a favour of 
him, though it be for public good ; so we must be con- 
tent till we come 'tother side the Blue-blanket, and 
then we shall know the whole story. 

But now, though, as I said, I will not attempt to 
solve the difficulty, I may, I hope, venture to tell you, 
that there is not so much difficulty in it as at first sight 
appears, and especially not so much as some people 
would make us believe : let us see how others are mis- 
taken in it, perhaps that may help us a little in the 
inquiry ; for to know what it is not, is one help to- 
wards knowing what it is. 

Mr. Milton has indeed told us a great many merry 
things of the Devil, in a most formal, solemn manner ; till, 
in short, he has made a good play of Heaven and Hell ; 
and no doubt, if he had lived in our times, he might 
have had it acted with our Pluto and Proserpine. He 
has made fine speeches both for God and the Devil, 
and a little addition might have turned it, a la modern, 
into a Harlequin Dieu et Diable. 

I confess, I do not well know how far the dominion of 
poetry extends itself; it seems the butts and bounds of 
Parnassus are not yet ascertained ; so that, for aught I 
know, by virtue of their ancient privileges, called 
licentia poetarum, there can be no blasphemy in 
verse, as some of our divines say there can be no trea- 
son in the pulpit. But they that will venture to write 
that way, ought to be better satisfied about that point 
than I am. 

Upon this foot, Mr. Milton, to grace his poem, and 
give room for his towering fancy, has gone a length be- 
yond all that ever went before him, since Ovid in his 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 63 

Metamorphoses. He has, indeed, complimented God 
Almighty with a flux of lofty words, and great sounds, 
and has made a very fine story of the Devil, but he has 
made a mereje ne seal quoi of Jesus Christ. In one line 
he has him riding on°a cherub, and in another sitting on 
a throne, both in the very same moment of action. In 
another place he has brought him in making a speech 
to his saints, when it is evident he had none there, for 
we all know man was not created till a long while 
after ; and nobody can be so dull as to say the angels 
may be called saints, without the greatest absurdity in 
nature. Besides, he makes Christ himself distinguish 
them, as in two several bands, and of differing persons 
and species, as to be sure they are. 

Stand still in bright array, ye saints- 



Here stand. 



Ye angels. 

Par. Lost, lib. vi. 

So that Christ here is brought in drawing up his 
army before the last battle, and making a speech to 
them, to tell them they shall only stand by in war- 
like order, but that they shall have no occasion to fight, 
for he alone will engage the rebels. Then, in embat- 
tling his legions, he places the saints here, and the 
angels there, as if one were the main battle of infantry, 
and the other the wings of cavalry. But who are 
those saints ? they are indeed all of his own making, 
for it is certain there were no saints at all in heaven or 
earth at that time ; God and his angels filled up 
the place ; and till some of the angels fell, and men 
were created, had lived, and were dead, there could 
have been no saints there. Saint Abel was certainly 
the proto-saint of all that ever were seen in heaven, as 
well as the proto-martyr of all that have been upon 
earth. 

Just such another mistake, not to call it a blunder, 
he makes about hell ; which he not only makes local, 



64 THE POLITICAL 

but gives it a being before the fall of the angels, and 
brings it in opening its mouth to receive them. This 
is so contrary to the nature of the thing, and so great 
an absurdity, that no poetic license can account for it; 
for though poesy may form stories as idea and fancy 
may furnish materials, yet poesy must not break in 
upon chronology, and make things, which in time were 
to exist, act before they existed. 

Thus a painter may make a fine piece of work, the 
fancy may be good, the strokes masterly, and the 
beauty of the workmanship inimitably curious and fine, 
and yet have some unpardonable improprieties which 
mar the whole work. So the famous painter of 
Toledo painted the story of the three wise men of the 
East coming to worship and bring their presents to our 
Lord upon his birth at Bethlehem, where he represents 
them as three Arabian or Indian kings ; two of them 
are white, and one black ; but unhappily, when he drew 
the latter part of them kneeling, which to be sure was 
done after their faces, their legs being necessarily a 
little intermixed, he made three black feet for the Ne- 
gro king, and but three white feet for the two white 
kings, and yet never discovered the mistake till the 
piece was presented to the king, and hung up in the 
great church. As this is an unpardonable error in 
sculpture or limning, it must be much more so in 
poetry, where the images must have no improprieties, 
much less inconsistencies. 

In a word, Mr. Milton has indeed made a fine 
poem, but it is the devil of a history. I can easily 
allow Mr. Milton to make hills and dales, flowery mea- 
dows and plains, and the like, in heaven ; and places 
of retreat and contemplation in hell ; though, I must 
add, it can be allowed to no poet on earth but Mr. Mil- 
ton. Nay, I will allow Mr. Milton, if you please, to 
set the angels a dancing in heaven, lib. v., and the 
devils a singing in hell, lib. i., though they are, 
in short, especially the last, most horrid absurdities. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 65 

But I cannot allow him to make their music in hell to 
be harmonious and charming as he does ; such images 
being incongruous, and indeed shocking to nature. 
Neither can I think we should allow things to be placed 
out of time in poetry, any more than in history ; it is a 
confusion of images which is allowed to be disallowed 
by all the critics of what tribe or species soever in the 
world, and is indeed unpardonable. But we shall find 
so many more of these things in Mr. Milton, that 
really taking notice of them all would carry me quite 
out of my way, I being at this time not writing the 
history of Mr. Milton, but of the Devil : besides, Mr. 
Milton is such a celebrated man, that who but he that 
can write the history of the Devil dare meddle with 
him? 

But to come back to the business. As I had cau- 
tioned you against running to Scripture for shelter in 
cases of difficulty, Scripture weighing very little among 
the people I am directing my speech to, so indeed, 
Scripture gives but very little light into anything of the 
Devil's story before his fall, and but to very little of it 
for some time after. 

Nor has Mr. Milton said one word to solve the main 
difficulty, viz., how the Devil came to fall, and how sin 
came into heaven, and how the spotless seraphic nature 
could receive infection, whence the contagion pro- 
ceeded, what noxious matter could emit corruption, 
how and whence any vapour to poison the angelic frame 
could rise up, or how it increased and grew up to crime. 
But all this he passes over, and hurrying up that part 
in two or three words, only tells us, 

his pride 

Had cast him out from heaven, with all his host 
Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring 
To set himself in glory above his peers, 
He trusted to have equall'd the Most High. 

Lib. i. 

"His pride !" but how came Satan, while an archangel, 

H. D. F 



66 THE POLITICAL 

to be proud ? How did it consist, that pride and per- 
fect holiness should meet in the same person ? Here 
we must bid Mr. Milton good night ; for, in plain terms, 
he is in the dark about it, and so we are all ; and the 
most that can be said, is, that we know the fact is so, 
but nothing of the nature or reason of it. 

But to come to the history : the angels fell, they 
sinned, (wonderful !) in heaven, and God cast them 
out ; what their sin was is not explicit but in general 
it is called a rebellion against God ; all sin must be 
so. 

Mr. Milton here takes upon him to give the history 
of it, as particularly as if he had been born there, and ' 
came down hither on purpose to give us an account of 
it ; (I hope he is better informed by this time ;) but 
this he does in such a manner, as jostles with religion, 
and shocks our faith in so many points necessary to be 
believed, that we must forbear to give up to Milton, 
or must set aside part of the sacred text, in such a 
manner, as will assist some people to set it aside all. 

I mean by this, his invented scheme of the Son's 
being declared in heaven to be begotten then, and 
then to be declared generalissimo of all the armies of 
heaven; and of the Father's summoning all the angels 
of the heavenly host to submit to him, and pay him 
homage. The words are-quoted already, page 30. 

I must own the invention, indeed, is very fine, the 
images exceeding magnificent, the thought rich and 
bright, and, in some respect, truly sublime : but the 
authorities fail most wretchedly, and the mistiming of 
it is unsufferably gross, as is noted in the introduction 
to this work ; for Christ is not declared the Son of God 
but on earth ; it is true, it is spoken from heaven, but 
then it is spoken as perfected oq earth ; if it was at all 
to be assigned to heaven, it was from eternity, and 
there, indeed, his eternal generation is allowed; but to 
take upon us to say, that, On a day; a certain day ; for 
so our poet assumes, lib. v. : 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 

When on a day, 

-On such day 



67 



As heaven's great year brings forth, th' empyreal host 
Of angels, by imperial summons call'd, 
Forthwith from all the ends of heaven appear'd. 

This is, indeed, too gross ; at this meeting he makes 
God declare the Son to be that day begotten as be- 
fore ; had he made him not begotten that day, but de- 
clared general that day, it would be reconcilable witli 
Scripture and with sense ; for either the begetting is 
meant of ordaining to an office, or else the eternal ge- 
neration falls to the ground ; and if it was to the office 
(mediator), then Mr. Milton is out in ascribing another 
fixed day to the work ; see lib. x. But then the de- 
claring him that day, is wrong chronology too, for 
Christ is declared the Son of God with poiver, only by 
the resurrection of the dead, and this is both a decla- 
ration in heaven and in earth ; Rom. i. 4. And Milton 
can have no authority to tell us there was any decla- 
ration of it in heaven before this, except it' be that dull 
authority, called poetic license, which will not pass in 
so solemn an affair as that. 

But the thing was necessary to Milton, who wanted 
to assign some cause or original of the Devil's re- 
bellion ; and so, as I said abovp,,the design is well laid, 
it only wants two trifles called truth and history ; so I 
leave it to struggle for itself. 

This grounclplot being laid, he has a fair field for 
the Devil to play the rebel in, for he immediately 
brings him in not satisfied with the exaltation of the 
Son of God. The case must be thus ; Satan, being an 
eminent archangel, and perhaps the highest of all the 
angelic train, hearing this sovereign declaration, that 
the Son of God was declared to be head or gene- 
ralissimo of all the heavenly host, took it ill to see 
another put into the high station over his head, as the 
soldiers call it ; he, perhaps, being the senior officer, 
and disdaining to submit to any but to his former im- 

f2 



68 THE POLITICAL 

mediate sovereign ; in short, he threw up his commis- 
sion, and, in order not to be compelled to obey, re- 
volted, and broke out in open rebellion. 

All this part is a decoration noble and great, nor is 
there any objection to be made against the invention, 
because a deduction of probable events ; but the plot 
is wrong laid, as is observed above, because contradicted 
by the Scripture account, according to which Christ 
was declared in heaven, not then, but from eternity, 
and not declared with power but on earthy viz., in his 
victory over sin and death, by the resurrection from 
the dead ; so that Mr. Milton is not orthodox in this 
part, but lays an avowed foundation for the corrupt 
doctrine of Arius, which says, there was a time when 
Christ was not the Son of God. 

But to leave Mr. Milton to his flights, I agree with 
him in this part, viz., that the wicked or sinning angels 
with the great archangel at the head of them, revolted 
from their obedience, even in heaven itself; that 
Satan began the wicked defection, and being a chief 
among the heavenly host, consequently carried over a 
great party with him, who altogether rebelled against 
God ; that upon this rebellion they were sentenced, 
by the righteous judgment of God, to be expelled the 
holy habitation ; this, besides the authority of Scrip- 
ture, we have visible testimonies of from the devils 
themselves ; their influences and operations among us 
every day, of which mankind are witnesses ; in all the 
merry things they do in his name, and under his pro- 
tection, in almost every scene of life they pass through, 
whether we talk of things done openly or in masque- 
rade, things done in or out of it, things done in 

earnest or in jest. 

But then, what comes of the long and bloody war 
that Mr. Milton gives such a full and particular account 
of, and the terrible battles in heaven between Michael 
with the royal army of angels on one hand, and Satan 
with his rebel host on hte other ; in which he supposes 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 69 

the numbers and strength to be pretty near equal ? but 
at length brings in the Devil's army, upon doubling 
their rage, and bringing new engines of war into the 
field, putting Michael and all the faithful army to the 
worst ; and, in a word, defeats them ? For though 
they were not put to a plain flight, in which case he 
must, at least, have given an account of two or three 
thousand millions of angels cut in pieces and wounded, 
yet he allows them to give over the fight, and make a 
kind of retreat ; so making way for the complete vic- 
tory of the Son of God : now this is all invention, or at 
least, a borrowed thought from the old poets, and the 
fight of the giants against Jupiter, so nobly designed by 
Ovid, almost two thousand years ago ; and there it was 
well enough ; but whether poetic fancy should be 
allowed to fable upon heaven, or no, and upon the 
king of heaven too, that I leave to the sages. 

By this expulsion of the devils, it is allowed by 
most authors, they are, ipso facto >, stripped of the recti- 
tude and holiness of their nature, which was their 
beauty and perfection ; and being ingulfed in the 
abyss of irrecoverable ruin, it is no matter where, from 
that very time they lost their angelic beautiful form, 
and commenced ugly frightful monsters and devils, 
and became evil doers, as well as evil spirits ; filled 
with a horrid malignity and enmity against their 
Maker, and armed with a hellish resolution to show 
and exert it on all occasions ; retaining however their 
exalted spirituous nature, and having a vast extensive 
power of action, all which they can exert in nothing 
else but doing evil, for they are entirely divested of 
either power or will to do good ; and even in doing 
evil, they are under restraints and limitations of a su- 
perior power, which it is their torment, and, perhaps, a 
great part of their hell, that they cannot break through. 



THE POLITICAL 



CHAP. VI. 



What became of the Devil and his host of fallen spirits 
after their being expelled from heaven, and his 
wandering condition till the creation ; with some 
more of Mr. Milton's absurdities on that subject. 

Having thus brought the Devil and his innumerable 
legions to the edge of the bottomless pit, it remains, 
before I bring them to action, that some inquiry 
should be made into the posture of their affairs im- 
mediately after their precipitate fall, and into the place 
of their immediate residence ; for this will appear to 
be very necessary to Satan's history, and indeed, so as 
that, without it, all the further account we have to give 
of him will be inconsistent and imperfect. 

And first, I take upon me to lay down some funda- 
mentals, which I believe I shall be able to make out 
historically, though, perhaps, not so geographically as 
some have pretended to do. 

1. That Satan was not immediately, nor is yet 
locked down into the abyss of a local hell, such 
as is supposed by some, and such as he shall be at 
last ; or that, 

2. If he was, he has certain liberties allowed him 
for excursions into the regions of this air, and 
certain spheres of action, in which he can and 
does move, to do like a very devil as he is, all 
the mischief he can, and of which we see so 
many examples both about us and in us : in the 
inquiry after which, I shall take occasion to ex- 
amine whether the Devil is not in most of us 
sometimes, if not in all of us one time or other. 

3. That Satan has no particular residence in this 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 71 

globe or earth where we live; that he rambles 
about among us, and marches over and over our 
whole country, he and his devils, in camps volant ; 
but that he pitches his grand army or chief en- 
campment in our adjacencies, or frontiers, which 
the philosophers call atmosphere, and whence he 
is called the prince of the power of that element 
or part of the world we call air ; from whence he 
sends out his spies, his agents, and emissaries, to 
get intelligence, and to carry his commissions to 
his trusty and well-beloved cousins and council- 
lors on earth, by which his business is done, and 
his affairs carried on in the world. 
Here again, I meet Mr. Milton full in my face, who 
will have it, that the Devil, immediately at his expul- 
sion, rolled down directly into a hell proper and local ; 
nay, he measures the very distance, at least gives the 
length of the journey by the time they were passing or 
falling, which, he says, was nine days ; a good poetical 
flight, but neither founded on Scripture or philosophy, 
for he might every jot as well have brought hell up to 
the walls of heaven, advanced to receive them, or he 
ought to have considered the space which is to be 
allowed to any locality, let him take what part of 
infinite distance between heaven and a created hell he 
pleases. 

But let that be as Mr. Milton's extraordinary genius 
pleases to place it ; the passage, it seems, is just nine 
days betwixt heaven and hell ; well might Dives then 
see father Abraham, and talk to him too ; but then the 
great gulf which Abraham tells him was fixed be- 
tween them, does not seem to be so large as, according 
to sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Halley, Mr. Whiston, and the 
rest of our men of science, we take it to be. 

But suppose the passage to be nine days, according 
to Mr. Milton, what followed ? why hell gaped wide, 
opened its frightful mouth and received them all at 
once ; millions and thousands of millions as they were, 



72 THE POLITICAL, 

it received them all at a gulp, as we call it ; they had 
no difficulty to go in, no, none at all. 

Facilis descensus Averni sed revocare gradum 
Hoc opus hie labor est. Virg. 

All this, as poetical, we may receive, but not at all 
as historical ; for then come troubles insuperable in 
our way, some of which may be as follow: (1.) hell is 
here supposed to be a place ; nay, a place created for 
the punishment of angels and men, and likewise 
created long before those had fallen, or these had being; 
this makes me say, Mr. Milton was a good poet, but a 
bad historian ; Tophet was prepared of old, indeed, but 
it was for the king, that is to say, it was prepared for 
those whose lot it should be to come there ; but this 
does not at all suppose it was prepared before it was 
resolved whether there should be subjects for it, or no; 
else we must suppose both men and angels were made 
by the glorious and upright Maker of all things on 
purpose for destruction, which would be incongruous 
and absurd. 

But there is worse yet to come ; for in the next place 
he adds, that hell having received them, closed upon 
them ; that is to say, took them in, closed or shut its 
mouth ; and, in a word, they were locked in, as it was 
said in another place ; they were locked in, and the key 
is carried up to heaven and kept there, for we know 
the angel came down from heaven, having the key of 
the bottomless pit ; but first, see Mr. Milton. 

Nine days they fell ; confounded Chaos roar'd 
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall : 

Hell, at last, 

Yawning, receiv'd them whole, and on them clos'd ; 
Down from the verge of heaven, eternal wrath 

Burnt after them 

Unquenchable. 

This scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and 



HISTORY OF THE DEVLL. 73 

I think is more so than any other he has laid ; it is 
evident, neither Satan or his host of devils are, no, not 
any of them, yet, even now, confined in the eternal 
prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be reserved 
in chains of darkness. They must have mean thoughts 
of hell, as a prison, a local confinement, that can sup- 
pose the Devil able to break jail, knock oifhis fetters, 
and come abroad, if he had been once locked in there, 
as Mr. Milton says he was : now we know that he is 
abroad again; he presented himself before God, among 
his neighbours, when Job's case came to be discoursed 
of; and more than that, it is plain he was a prisoner 
at large, by his answer to God's question, which was, 
Whence contest thou? to which he answered, From 
going to and fro through the earth, Sfc, ; this, I say, is 
plain, and if it be as certain that hell closed upon 
them, I demand then, how got he out ? and why was 
there not a proclamation for apprehending him, as 
there usually is after such rogues as break out of 
prison ? 

In short, the true account of the Devil's circumstances, 
since his fall from heaven, is much more likely to be 
thus : that he is more of a vagrant than a prisoner ; that 
he is a wanderer in the wild unbounded waste, where 
he and his legions, like the hordes of Tartary, who, in 
the wild countries of Karakathay, the deserts of Barkan, 
Cassan, and Astracan, live up and down where they find 
proper ; so Satan and his innumerable legions rove 
about, hie et ubique, pitching their camps (being beasts 
of prey) where they find the most spoil ; watching over 
this world, (and all the other worlds for aught we know, 
and if there are any such ;) I say, watching, and seeking 
who they may devour, that is, who they may deceive 
and delude, and so destroy, for devour they cannot. 

Satan being thus confined to a vagabond, wandering, 
unsettled condition, is without any certain abode ; for 
though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature, a 
kind of empire in the liquid waste or air, yet this is 



74 THE POLITICAL 

certainly part of his punishment, that he is continually 
hovering over this inhabited globe of earth, swelling with 
the rage of envy at the felicity of his rival, man, and 
studying all the means possible to injure and ruin him; 
but extremely limited in power, to his unspeakable mor- 
tification : this is his present state, without any fixed 
abode, place, or space allowed him to rest the sole of 
his foot upon. 

From his expulsion, I take his first view of horror to 
be that of looking back towards the heaven which he 
had lost, and there to see the chasm or opening made 
up, out at which, as at a breach in the wall of the 
holy place, he was thrust headlong by the power 
which expelled him ; I say, to see the breach repaired, 
the mounds built up, the walls garrisoned with millions 
of angels, and armed with thunders ; and, above all, 
made terrible by that glory from whose presence they 
were expelled, as is poetically hinted at before. 

Upon this sight, it is no wonder (if there was such 
a place) that they fled till the darkness might cover 
them, and that they might be out of the view of so 
hated a sight. 

Wherever they found it, you may be sure they 
pitched their first camp, and began, after many a sour 
reflection upon what was passed, to consider and think 
a little upon what was to come. 

If I had as much personal acquaintance with the 
Devil as would admit it, and could depend upon the 
truth of what answer he would give me, the first 
question I would ask him, should be, what measures 
they resolved on at their first assembly ; and the next 
should be, how they were employed in all that space of 
time, between their so flying the face of their almighty 
Conqueror, and the creation of man. As for the length 
of the time, which, according to the learned, was twenty 
thousand years, and according to the more learned, not 
a quarter so much, I would not concern my curiosity 
much about it ; it is most certain, there was a consi- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 75 

derable time between, but of that immediately ; first 
let me inquire what they were doing all that time. 

The Devil and his host being thus, I say, cast out 
of heaven, and not yet confined strictly to hell, it is plain 
they must be somewhere : Satan and all his legions 
did not lose their existence, no, nor the existence of 
devils neither. God was so far from annihilating him, 
that he still preserved his being ; and this, not Mr. Milton 
only, but God himself has made known to us, having 
left his history so far upon record ; several expressions 
in Scripture also make it evident, as particularly the 
story of Job, mentioned before ; the like in our 
Saviour's time, and several others. 

If hell did not immediately ingulf them, as Milton 
suggests, it is certain, I say, that they fled somewhere 
from the anger of heaven, from the face of the Avenger; 
and his absence, and their own guilt, wonder not at it, 
would make hell enough for them wherever they went. 

Nor need we fly to the dreams of our astronomers, 
who take a great deal of pains to fill up the vast spaces 
of the starry heavens with innumerable habitable worlds, 
allowing as many solar systems as there are fixed stars, 
and that not only in the known constellations, but even 
in galaxy itself; who, to every such system, allow a 
certain number of planets, and to every one of those 
planets so many satellites or moons, and all these 
planets and moons to be worlds ; solid, dark, opaque 
bodies, habitable, and (as they would have us believe) 
inhabited by the like animals and rational creatures as 
on this earth ; so that they may, at this rate, find room 
enough for the Devil and all his angels, without making 
a hell on purpose ; nay they may, for aught I know, 
find a world for every devil in all the Devil's host, and 
so every one may be a monarch, or master-devil, sepa- 
rately in his own sphere or world, and play the devil 
there by himself. 

And even if this were so, it cannot be denied but 
that one devil in a place would be enough for a whole 



76 THE POLITICAL 

systemary world, and be able, if not restrained, to do 
mischief enough there too, and even to ruin and over- 
throw the whole body of people contained in it. 

But, I say, we need not fly to these shifts, or consult 
the astronomers in the decision of this point ; for, 
wherever Satan and his defeated host went at their ex- 
pulsion from heaven, we think we are certain none of 
all these beautiful worlds, or be they worlds or no, I 
mean the fixed stars, planets, &c, had then any exist- 
ence ; for the beginning, as the Scripture calls it, was 
not yet begun. 

But to speak a little by the rules of philosophy, that 
is to say, so as to be understood by others, even when 
we speak of things we cannot fully understand our- 
selves : though in the beginning of time all this glori- 
ous creation was formed, the earth, the starry heavens, 
and all the furniture thereof, and there was a time when 
they were not ; yet we cannot say so of the void, or 
that nameless nowhere, as I called it before, which now 
appears to be a somewhere, in which these glorious 
bodies are placed. That immense space which those 
take up, and which they move in at this time, must be 
supposed, before they had being, to be placed there : 
as God himself was, and existed before all being, time, 
or place, so the heaven of heavens, or the place where 
the thrones and dominions of his kingdom then existed, 
inconceivable and ineffable, had an existence before the 
glorious seraphs, the innumerable company of angels, 
which attended about the throne of God, existed ; these 
all had a being long before, as the eternal Creator of 
them all had before them. 

Into this void or abyss of nothing, however un- 
measurable, infinite, and, even to those spirits them- 
selves, inconceivable, they certainly launched from the 
bright precipice which they fell from, and shifted as 
well as they could. 

Here, expanding those wings which fear and horror 
at their defeat furnished them, as I hinted before, they 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 77 

hurried away to the utmost distance possible from the 
face of God their conqueror, and then most dreadebi 
enemy, formerly their joy and glory. 

Be this utmost removed distance where it will, here, 
certainly, Satan and all his gang of devils, his num- 
berless, though routed armies, retired. Here Milton 
might, with some good ground, have formed his Pan- 
demonium, and have brought them in, consulting what 
was next to be done, and whether there was any room 
left to renew the war, or to carry on the rebellion ; 
but had they been cast immediately into hell, closed up 
there, the bottomless pit locked upon them, and the 
key carried up to heaven to be kept there, as Mr. Mil- 
ton himself in part confesses, and the Scripture affirms ; 
I say, had this been so, the Devil himself could not 
have been so ignorant as to think of any future steps 
to be taken, to retrieve his affairs, and therefore a 
Pandemonium or divan in hell, to consult of it, was 
ridiculous. 

All Mr. Milton's schemes of Satan's future conduct, 
and all the Scripture expressions about the Devil and 
his numerous attendants, and of his actings since that 
time, make it not reasonable to suggest that the devils 
were confined to their eternal prison, at their expulsion 
out of heaven ; but that they were in a state of liberty 
to act, though limited in acting ; of which I shall also 
speak in its place. 



THE POLITICAL 



CHAP. VII. 



Of the number of Satan's host ; how they came first 
to know of the neiv created worlds, now in being, 
and their measures with mankind upon the dis- 
covery. 

Several things have been suggested to set us a cal- 
culating the number of this frightful throng of devils, 
who, with Satan, the master-devil, was thus cast out of 
heaven ; I cannot say I am so much master of political 
arithmetic as to cast up the number of the beast, no, 
nor the number of the beasts or devils who make up 
this throng. St. Francis, they tell us, or some other 
saint, they do not say who, asked the Devil once, how 
strong he was ; for St. Francis, you must know, was 
very familiar with him ; the Devil, it seems, did not 
tell him, but presently raised a great cloud of dust, by 
the help, I suppose, of a gust of wind, and bid that 
saint count it ; he was, I suppose, a calculator that 
would be called grave, who dividing Satan's troops 
into three lines, cast up the number of the devils of 
all sorts in each battalia, at ten hundred times a 
hundred thousand millions of the first line, fifty 
millions of times as many in the second line, and three 
hundred thousand times as many as both in the third 
line. 

The impertinence of this account would hardly have 
given it a place here, only to hint that it has always 
been the opinion, that Satan's name may well be called 
a noun of multitude, and that the Devil and his angels 
are certainly no inconsiderable number. It was a 
smart repartee that a Venetian nobleman made to a 
priest, who rallied him upon his refusing to give some- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 79 

thing to the church, which the priest demanded for the 
delivering him from purgatory ; when the priest asking 
him if he knew what an innumerable number of devils 
there were to take him, he answered, yes, he knew 
how many devils there were in all. How many ? says 
the priest; his curiosity, I suppose, being raised by the 
novelty of the answer : Why ten millions, five hundred 
and eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy-five 
devils and a half, says the nobleman. A half! says the 
priest ; pray what kind of a devil is that ? Yourself, 
says the nobleman, for you are half a devil already, 
and will be a whole one when you come there, for you 
are for deluding all you deal with, and bringing us 
soul and body into your hands, that you may be 
paid for letting us go again. So much for their 
number. 

Here also it would come in very aptly, to consider 
the state of that long interval between the time of their 
expulsion from heaven, and the creation of the world ; 
and what the posture of the Devil's affairs might be, 
daring that time. The horror of their condition can 
only be conceived of at a distance, and especially by us, 
who being embodied creatures, cannot fully judge of 
what is or is not a punishment to seraphs and spirits ; 
but it is just to suppose they suffered all that spirits of 
a seraphic nature were capable to sustain, consistent 
with their existence ; notwithstanding which they re- 
tained still the hellishness of their rebellious principle, 
namely, their hatred and rage against God, and their 
env} 7 at the felicity of his creatures. 

As to how long their time might be, I shall leave 
the search, no lights being given me that are either 
probable or rational, and we have so little room to 
make a judgment of it, that we may as well believe 
father M , who supposes it to be a hundred thou- 
sand years, as those who judge it one thousand years ; 
it is enough that we are sure it was before the creation ; 
how long before is not material tc the Devil's history, 



80 THE POLITICAL 

unless we had some records of what happened to him, 
or was done by him in the interval. 

During the wandering condition the Devil was in at 
that time, we may suppose he and his whole clan to be 
employed in exerting their hatred and rage at the 
Almighty, and at the happiness of the remaining 
faithful angels, by all the ways they had power to show 
it. 

From this determined stated enmity of Satan and 
his host against God, and at everything that brought 
glory to his name, Mr. Milton brings in Satan, when 
first he saw Adam in Paradise, and the felicity of his 
station there, swelling with rage and envy, and taking 
up a dreadful resolution to ruin Adam and all his pos- 
terity, merely to disappoint his Maker of the glory 
of his creation ; I shall come to speak of that in its 
place. 

How Satan, in his remote situation, got intelligence 
of the place where to find Adam out, or that any such 
thing as a man was created, is matter of just specula- 
tion, and there might be many rational schemes laid 
for it : Mr. Milton does not undertake to tell us the 
particulars, nor indeed could he find room for it ; per- 
haps the Devil, having, as I have said, a liberty to 
range over the whole void or abyss, which we want as 
well a name for, as indeed powers to conceive of, 
might have discovered that the almighty Creator had 
formed a new and glorious work, with infinite beauty 
and variety, filling up the immense waste of space, in 
which he, the Devil and his angels, had roved for so 
long a time, without finding anything to work on, 
or to exert their apostate rage in against their Maker. 
That at length they found the infinite untrodden 
space, on a sudden spread full with glorious bodies, 
shining in self-existing beauty, with a new, and to them 
unknown lustre, called light: they found these luminous 
bodies, though immense in bulk, and infinite in number, 
yet fixed in their wondrous stations, regular and exact 



HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 81 

in their motions, confined in their proper orbits, tending 
to their particular centres, and enjoying every one their 
peculiar systems, within which was contained innumer- 
able planets with their satellites or moons, in which 
again a reciprocal influence, motion, and revolution, 
conspired to form the most admirable uniformity of 
the whole. 

Surprised, to be sure, with this sudden and yet glori- 
ous work of the Almighty, (for the creation was enough, 
with its lustre, even to surprise the devils,) they might 
reasonably be supposed to start out of their dark 
retreat, and with a curiosity not below the seraphic 
dignity, (for these are some of the things which the 
angels desire to look into,) to take a flight through all 
the amazing systems of the fixed suns or stars, which 
we see now but at a distance, and only make astrono- 
mical guesses at. 

Here the Devil found not subject of wonder only, but 
matter to swell his revolted spirit with more rage, 
and to revive the malignity of his mind against his 
Maker, and especially against this new increase of glory, 
which, to his infinite regret, was extended over the whole 
waste, and which he looked upon, as we say in human 
affairs, as zpays conquis, or, if you will have it in the lan- 
guage of devils, as an invasion upon their kingdom. 

Here it naturally occurred to them, in their state of 
envy and rebellion, that though they could not assault 
the impregnable walls of Heaven, and could no more 
pretend to raise war in the place of blessedness and 
peace, yet that perhaps they might find room in this 
new, and, however glorious, yet inferior kingdom or 
creation, to work some despite to their great Creator, or 
to affront his majesty in the person of some of his new 
creatures ; and upon this they may be justly supposed 
to double their vigilance, in the survey they resolved 
to take of these new worlds, however great, numberless, 
and wonderful. 

What discoveries they may have made in the other 

H. D. G 



82 THE POLITICAL 

and greater worlds than this earth, we have not yet 
had an account ; possibly they are conversant with 
other parts of God's creation, besides this little, little 
globe, which is but as a point in comparison of the rest ; 
and with other of God's creatures besides man, who may, 
according to the opinion of our philosophers, inhabit 
those worlds ; but as nobody knows that part but the 
Devil, we shall not trouble ourselves with the inquiry. 

But it is very reasonable, and indeed probable, that 
the devils were more than ordinarily surprised at the 
nature and reason of all this glorious creation, after 
they had, with the utmost curiosity, viewed all the 
parts of it; the glories of the several systems ; the im- 
mense spaces in which the glorious bodies that were 
created and made part of it, were allowed respectively 
to move ; the innumerable fixed stars, as so many suns 
in the centre of so many distant solar systems ; the 
(likewise innumerable) dark opaque bodies receiving 
light, and depending upon those suns respectively for 
such light, and then reflecting that light again upon 
and for the use of one another ; to see the beauty and 
splendour of their forms, the regularity of their 
position, the order and exactness, and yet inconceiv- 
able velocity of their motions, the certainty of their 
revolutions, and the variety and virtue of their influ- 
ences ; and then, which was even to the devils them- 
selves most astonishing, that after all the rest of their 
observations they should find this whole immense work 
was adapted for, and made subservient to, the use, de- 
light, and blessing only of one poor species, in itself 
small, and in appearance contemptible ; the meanest of 
all the kinds supposed to inhabit so many glorious 
worlds, as appeared now to be formed ; I mean, that 
moon called the Earth, and the creature called Man ; 
that all was made for him, upheld by the wise Creator, 
on his account only, and would necessarily end and cease 
whenever that speices should end and be determined. 

That this creature was to be found nowhere but (as 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 83 

above) in one little individual moon ; a spot less than 
almost any of the moons, which were in such great 
numbers to be found attendant upon, and prescribed 
with, in every system of the whole created heavens ; 
this was astonishing, even to the Devil himself, nay the 
whole clan of devils could scarce entertain any just 
ideas of the thing ; till, at last, Satan, indefatigable in 
his search or inquiry into the nature and reason of this 
new work, and particularly searching into the species 
of man, whom he found God had thus placed in the 
little globe, called earth ; he soon came to an eclair- 
cissement, or a clear understanding of the whole. For 
example, 

1. He found this creature, called man, was, however 
mean and small in his appearance, a kind of a 
seraphic species ; that he was made in the very 
image of God, endowed with reasonable faculties 
to know good and evil, and possessed of a certain 
thing till then unknown and unheard of even in hell 
itself; that is, in the habitation of devils, let that 
be where it would, (viz.) 

2. That God had made him indeed of the lowest and 
coarsest materials, but that he had breathed into 
him the breath of life, and that he became a living 
thing called soul, being a kind of an extraordinary 
heavenly and divine emanation; and consequently 
that man, however mean and terrestrial his body 
might be, was yet heaven-born ; in his spirituous 
part completely seraphic ; and, after a space of 
life here, (determined to be a state of probation,) 
he should be translated through the regions of 
death into a life purely and truly seraphic, and 
which should remain so for ever : being capable 
of knowing and enjoying God his maker, and 
standing in his presence, as the glorified angels do. 

3. That he had the most sublime faculties infused 
into him ; was capable not only of knowing and 
contemplating God, and which was still more, of 

g2 



84 THE POLITICAL 

enjoying him, as above, but (which the Devil now 
was not) capable of honouring and glorifying his 
Maker, who also had condescended to accept of 
honour from him. 
4. And, which was still more, that being of an angelic 
nature, though mixed with, and confined for the 
present in, a case of mortal flesh ; he was intended 
to be removed from this earth after a certain time 
of life here, to inhabit that heaven, and enjoy that 
very glory and felicity, from which Satan and his 
angels had been expelled. 
When he found all this, it presently occurred to him, 
that God had done it all as an act of triumph over him 
(Satan) ; and that these creatures were only created to 
people heaven, depopulated, or stripped of its inhabi- 
tants, by their expulsion ; and that these were all to be 
made angels in the devils' stead. 

If this thought increased his fury and envy, as far as 
rage of devils can be capable of being made greater ; 
it doubtless set him on work to give a vent to that rage 
and envy, by searching into the nature and constitution 
of this creature, called man ; and to find out whether 
he was invulnerable, and could by no means be hurt by 
the power of hell, or deluded by his subtilty ; or 
whether he might be beguiled and deluded, and so, 
instead of being preserved in holiness and purity, 
wherein he was certainly created, be brought to fall 
and rebel as he (Satan) had done before him; by 
which, instead of being transplanted into a glorious 
state, after this life in heaven, as his Maker had de- 
signed him to be, to fill up the angelic choir, and sup- 
ply the place from whence he (Satan) had fallen, he 
might be made to fall also like him, and, in a word, be 
made a devil like himself. 

This convinces us that the Devil has not lost his na- 
tural powers by his fall, and our learned commentator 
Mr. Pool is of the same opinion ; though he grants that 
the Devil has lost his moral power, or his power of doing 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 85 

good, which he can never recover. Vide Mr. Pool upon 
Acts xix. 17 ; where we may particularly observe, 
when the man possessed with an evil spirit flew upon 
the seven sons of Scaeva the Jew, (who would have ex- 
orcised them in the name of Jesus, without the autho- 
rity of Jesus, or without faith in him,) he flew on them 
and mastered them, so that they fled out of the house 
from the Devil, conquered, naked, and wounded : but 
of this power of the Devil I shall speak by itself. 

In a word, and to sum up all the Devil's story from 
his first expulsion, it stands thus : for so many years as 
were between his fall and the creation of man, though 
we have no memoirs of his particular affairs, we have 
reason to believe he was without any manner of em- 
ployment, but a certain tormenting endeavour to be 
always expressing his rage and enmity against heaven. 
I call it tormenting, because ever disappointed ; every 
thought about it proving empty ; every attempt towards 
it abortive ; leaving them only light enough to see still 
more and more reason to despair of success ; and that 
this made his condition still more and more a hell than 
it was before. 

After a space of duration in this misery, which we 
have no light given us to measure or judge of, he at 
length discovered the new creation of man, as above, 
upon which he soon found matter to set himself to 
work upon, and has been busily employed ever since. 

And now, indeed, there may be room to suggest a 
local hell, and the confinement of souls (made corrupt 
and degenerate by him) to it, as a place ; though he 
himself, as is still apparent by his actings, is not yet 
confined to it ; of this hell, its locality, extent, dimen- 
sions, continuance, and nature, as it does not belong to 
Satan's history, I have a good excuse for saying no- 
thing, and so put off my meddling with that, which if 
I would meddle with, I could say nothing to the 
purpose. 



86 THE POLITICAL 



CHAP. VIII. 

Of the- power of the Devil at the time of the creation 
of this icorld ; and whether it has not been farther 
straitened and limited since that time, and what 
shifts and stratagems he is obliged to make use of to 
compass his designs upon mankind. 

Cunning men have fabled, and though it be without 
either religion, authority, or physical foundation, it may 
be we may like it never the worse for that, that 
when God made the stars and all the heavenly lu- 
minaries, the Devil, to mimic his Maker, and insult his 
new creation, made comets, in imitation of the fixed 
stars ; but that the composition of them being combus- 
tible, when they came to wander in the abyss, rolling 
by an irregular ill-grounded motion, they took fire, in 
their approach to some of those great bodies of flame, 
the fixed stars ; and being thus kindled, like a firework 
unskilfully let off, they then took wild and eccentric, 
as also different motions of their own, out of Satan's 
direction, and beyond his power to regulate ever after. 

Let this thought stand by itself, it matters not to our 
purpose whether we believe anything of it or no ; it is 
enough to our case, that if Satan had any such power 
then, he has no such power now, and that leads me to 
inquire into his more recent limitations. 

I am to suppose, he and all his accomplices being 
confounded at the discovery of the new creation, and 
racking their wits to find out the meaning of it, had at 
kst, no matter how, discovered the whole system, and 
concluded, as I have said, that the creature called 
man was to be their successor in the heavenly man- 
sions ; upon which, I suggest that the first motion of 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 87 

hell was to destroy this new work, and, if possible, to 
overwhelm it ; but when they came to make the at- 
tempt, they found their chains were not long enough, 
and that they could not reach to the extremes of the 
system ; they had no power either to break the order, 
or stop the motion, dislocate the parts, or confound the 
situation of things. They traversed, no doubt, the 
whole work, visited every star, landed upon every solid, 
and sailed upon every fluid in the whole scheme, to see 
what mischief they could do ; but, upon a long and full 
survey, came to this point in their inquiry, that, in 
short, they could do nothing by force ; that they could 
not displace any part, annihilate any atom, or destroy 
any life in the whole creation ; but that as omnipotence 
had created it, so the same omnipotence had armed it 
at all points against the utmost power of hell, had made 
the smallest creature in it invulnerable, as to Satan ; 
so that without the permission of the same power 
which had made heaven, and conquered the Devil, he 
could do nothing at all, as to destroying anything that 
God had made, no, not the little diminutive thing 
called man, who Satan saw so much reason to hate, as 
being created to succeed him in happiness in heaven ; 
Satan found him placed out of his power to hurt, or 
out of his reach to touch ; and here, by the way, ap- 
pears the second conquest of heaven over the Devil ; 
that having placed his rival, as it were, just before his 
face, and showed the hateful sight to him, he saw writ- 
ten upon his image, Touch him, if you dare. 

It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, man 
is so far from being a match for the Devil, that one of 
Satan's least imps or angels could destroy all the race 
of them in the world, ay, world and all, in a moment ; 
as he is prince of the power of the air, taking the air 
there for the elementary world, how easily could he, 
at one blast, sweep all the surface of the earth into the 
sea, or drive the weighty immense surges of the ocean 
over the whole plane of the earth, and deluge the 



88 THE POLITICAL 

globe at once with a storm ; or how easily could he, 
who, by the situation of his empire, must be supposed 
able to manage the clouds, draw them up in such 
position as should naturally produce thunders and 
lightnings, cause those lightnings to blast the earth, 
dash in pieces all the fine buildings, burn all the popu- 
lous towns and cities, and lay waste the world ; at the 
same time command suited quantities of sublimated air 
to burst out of the bowels of the earth, and overwhelm 
and swallow up in the opening chasms all the in- 
habitants of the globe. In a word, Satan, left to him- 
self as a Devil, and to the power, which by virtue of his 
seraphic original he must be vested with, was able to 
have made devilish work in the world, if by a superior 
power he was not restrained. 

But there is no doubt, at least to me, but that with 
his fall from heaven, as he lost the rectitude and glory 
of his angelic nature, I mean his innocence, so he lost 
the power too that he had before ; and that when he 
first commenced devil, he received the chains of re- 
straint too, as the badge of his apostacy, viz. a general 
prohibition to do anything to the prejudice of this 
creation, or to act anything by force or violence with- 
out special permission. 

This prohibition was not sent him by a messenger, 
or by an order in writing, or proclaimed from heaven 
by a law ; but Satan, by a strange, invisible, and un- 
accountable impression felt the restraint within him ; 
and at the same time that his moral capacity was not 
taken away, yet his power of exerting that capacity 
felt the restraint, and left him unable to do, even what 
he was able to do, at the same time. 

I make no question but the Devil is sensible of this 
restraint, that is to say, not as it is a restraint only, or 
as an effect of his expulsion from heaven ; but as it 
prevents his capital design against man, who, for the 
reason I have given already, he entertains a mortal 
hatred of, and would destroy with all his heart, if he 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 89 

might ; and, therefore, like a chained mastiff, we find 
him oftentimes making a horrid hellish clamour and 
noise, barking and howling, and frightening the peo- 
ple, letting them know that if he was loose he would 
tear them to pieces ; but at the same time his very 
fury shakes his chain, which lets them know, to their 
satisfaction, he can only bark, but cannot bite. 

Some are of opinion that the Devil is not restrained 
so much by the superior power of his sovereign and 
Maker ; but that all his milder measures with man are 
the effect of a political scheme, and done upon mature 
deliberation ; that it was resolved to act thus in the 

great council or p 1 of devils, called upon this 

very occasion, when they first were informed of the 
creation of man ; and especially when they considered 
what kind of creature he was, and what might probably 
be the reason of making him, viz. to fill up the 
vacancies in heaven ; I say, that then the devils re- 
solved, that it was not for their interest to fall upon 
him with fury and rage, and so destroy the species, for 
that this would be no benefit at all to them, and would 
only cause another original man to be created ; for 
that they knew God could, by the same omnipotence, 
form as many new species of creatures as he pleased ; 
and, if he thought fit, create them in heaven too, out 
of the reach of devils or evil spirits, and that therefore 
to destroy man would no way answer their end. 

On the other hand, examining strictly the mould of 
this new creature, and of what materials he was formed; 
how mixed up of a nature convertible and pervertible, 
capable indeed of infinite excellence, and consequently 
of eternal felicity ; but subject likewise to corruption 
and degeneracy, and consequently to eternal misery ; 
that instead of being fit to supply the places of Satan 
and his rejected tribe (the expelled angels) in heaven, 
and filling up the thrones or stalls in the celestial choir, 
they might, if they could but be brought into crime, 
become a race of rebels and traitors like the rest, and 



90 THE POLITICAL 

so come at last to keep them company, as well in the 
place of eternal misery, as in the merit of it ; and, in a 
word, become devils instead of angels. 

Upon this discovery, I say, they found it infinitely 
more for the interest of Satan's infernal kingdom, to go 
another way to work with mankind, and see if it were 
possible, by the strength of all their infernal wit and 
councils, to lay some snare for him, and by some 
stratagem to bring him to eternal ruin and misery. 

This being then approved as their only method, (and 
the Devil showed he was no fool in the choice,) he next 
resolved that there was no time to be lost ; that it was 
to be set about immediately, before the race was multi- 
plied, and before, by that means, the work be not made 
greater only, but perhaps the more difficult too ; ac- 
cordingly, the diligent Devil went instantly about it, 
agreeable to all the story of Eve and the serpent, as 
before ; the belief of which, whether historically or alle- 
gorically, is not at all obstructed by this hypothesis. 

I do not affirm that this was the case at first, because 
being not present in that black divan, at least not that 
I know of, for who knows where he was or was not in 
his pre-existent state ? I cannot be positive in the re- 
solve that passed there ; but except for some very little 
contradiction, which we find in the sacred writings, I 
should, I confess, incline to believe it historically ; and 
I shall speak of those things which I call contradictions 
to it, more largely hereafter. 

In the mean time, be it one way or other, that is to 
say, either that Satan had no power to have proceeded 
with man by violence, and to have destroyed him as 
soon as he was made ; or that he had the power, but 
chose rather to proceed by other methods to deceive 
and debauch him ; I say, be it which you please, I am 
still of the opinion that it really was not the Devil's 
business to destroy the species; that it would have been 
nothing to the purpose, and no advantage at all to him, 
if he had done it ; for that, as above, God could im- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 91 

mediately have created another species to the same end, 
whom he either could have made invulnerable, and not 
subject to the Devil's power, or removed him out of 
Satan's reach, placed him out of the Devil's ken, in 
heaven or some other place, where the Devil could not 
come to hurt him ; and that, therefore, it is infinitely 
more his advantage, and more suited to his real design 
of defeating the end of man's creation, to debauch him 
and make a devil of him, that he may be rejected like 
himself, and increase the infernal kingdom and com- 
pany in the lake of misery in ceternum. 

It may be true, for aught I know, that Satan has 
not the power of destruction put into his hand, and 
that he cannot take away the life of a man ; and it 
seems probable to be so, from the story of Satan and 
Job, when Satan appeared among the sons of God, as 
the text says, Job i. 6. Now when God gave such a 
character of Job to him, and asked him if he had con- 
sidered his servant Job, v. 8, why did not the Devil go 
immediately and exert his malice against the good 
man at once, to let his Maker see what would become 
of his servant Job in his distress ? On the contrary, 
we see he only answers by showing the reason of Job's 
good behaviour ; that it was but common gratitude for 
the blessing and protection he enjoyed, v. 10; and 
pleading that if his estate was taken away, and he was 
exposed as he (Satan) was, to be a beggar and a vaga- 
bond, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and 
down therein, he would be a very devil too, like him- 
self, and curse God to his face. 

Upon this, the text says, that God answered, v. 11, 
Behold^ all that he hath is in thy power ; now it is 
plain here, that God gave up Job's wealth and estate, 
nay, his family, and the lives of his children and ser- 
vants into the Devil's power ; and, accordingly, like a 
true merciless devil, as he is, he destroyed them all ; he 
moved the Sabeans to fall upon the oxen and the asses, 
and carry them off; he moved the Chaldeans to fall 



92 THE POLITICAL 

upon the camels and the servants, to carry off the first, 
and murder the last ; he made lightning flash upon the 
poor sheep, and kill them all ; and he biowed the house 
down upon his poor children, and buried them all in 
the ruins. 

Now here is (1.) a specimen of Satan's good will to 
mankind, and what a havoc the Devil would make in 
the world, if he might ; and here is a testimony too, 
that he could not do this without leave ; so that I can- 
not but be of the opinion he has some limitations, some 
bounds set to his natural fury ; a certain number of 
links in his chain, which he cannot exceed, or, in a 
word, that he cannot go a foot beyond his tether. 

The same kind of evidence we have in the Gospel, 
Matt. viii. 31, where Satan could not so much as pos- 
sess the filthiest and meanest of all creatures, the 
swine, till he had asked leave; and that still to*show his 
good will, as soon as he had gotten leave, he hurried 
them all into the sea and choked them ; these, I say, 
are some of the reasons why I am not willing to say 
the Devil is not restrained in power ; but, on the other 
side, we are told of so many mischievous things the 
Devil has done in the world, by virtue of his dominion 
over the elements, and by other testimonies of his 
power, that I do not know what to think of it, though, 
upon the whole, the first is the safest opinion ; for if 
we believe the last, we may, for aught I know, be 
brought, like the American Indians, to worship him 
that he may do us no harm. 

And now I have named those people in America, T 
confess it would go a great way in favour of Satan's 
generosity, as well as in testimony of his power, if we 
might believe all the accounts, which indeed authors 
are pretty well agreed in the truth of, namely, of the 
mischiefs the Devil does in those countries, where his 
dominion seems to be established ; how he uses them 
when they deny him that homage he claims of them as 
his due ; what havoc and combustion he makes among 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL.. 93 

them ; and how beneficent he is, or at least negative in 
his mischiefs, when they appease him by their hellish 
sacrifices. 

Likewise we see a test of his wicked subtilty in his 
management of those dark nations, when he was more 
immediately worshipped by them ; namely, the making 
them believe that all their good weather, rains, dews, 
and kind influences upon the earth, to make it fruitful, 
was from him ; whereas they really were the common 
blessings of a higher hand, and came not from him, 
the Devil, but from him that made the Devil, and 
made him a devil or fallen angel by bis curse. 

But to go back to the method the Devil took with the 
first of mankind ; it is plain the policy of hell was 
right, though the execution of the resolves they took did 
not fully answer their end neither ; for Satan fastening 
upon poor, proud, ridiculous mother Eve, as I have 
said before, made presently a true judgment of her 
capacities, and of her temper ; took her by the right 
handle, and soothing her vanity, which is to this day 
the softest place in the head of all the sex, wheedled 
her out of her senses, by praising her beauty, and pro- 
mising to make her a goddess. 

The foolish woman yielded presently, and that we are 
told is the reason why the same method so strangely 
takes with all her posterity, viz. that you are sure to 
prevail with them, if you can but once persuade them 
that you believe they are witty and handsome ; for 
the Devil, you may observe, never quits any hold he 
gets, and having once found a way into the heart, al- 
ways takes care to keep the door open, that any of his 
agents may enter after him without any more difficulty: 
hence the same argument, especially the last, has so 
bewitching an influence on the sex, that they never 
deny you anything, after they are but weak enough and 
vain enough to accept of the praises you offer them 
on that head ; on the other hand, you are sure they 
never forgive you the unpardonable crime of saying 



94 THE POLITICAL 

they are ugly or disagreeable. It is suggested that the 
first method the Devil took to insinuate all those fine 
things into Eve's giddy head, was by creeping close to 
her one night, when she was asleep, and laying his 
mouth to her ear, whispering all the fine things to her/ 
which he knew would set her fancy a tiptoe, and so 
made her receive them involuntarily into her rnind, 
knowing well enough that when she had formed such 
ideas in her soul, however they came there, she would 
never be quiet till she had worked them up to some 
extraordinary thing or other. 

It was evident what the Devil aimed at, namely, that 
she should break in upon the command of God, and so 
having corrupted herself, bring the curse upon herself 
and all her race, as God had threatened ; but why the 
pride of Eve should be so easily tickled by the motion 
of her exquisite beauty, when there then was no pro- 
spect of the use or want of those charms ; that indeed 
makes a kind of difficulty here, which the learned have 
not determined : for, 

1 . If she had been as ugly as the Devil, she had no- 
body to rival her, so that she need not fear Adam 
should leave her and get another mistress. 

2. If she had been bright and beautiful as an angel, 
she had no other admirer but poor Adam, and he 
could have no room to be jealous of her, or afraid 
she should cuckold him ; so that in short, Eve had 
no such occasion for her beauty, nor could she 
make any use of it, either to a bad purpose or to a 
good; and therefore I believe the Devil, who is too 
cunning to do anything that signifies nothing, 
rather tempted her by the hope of increasing her 
wit, than her beauty. 

But to come back to the method of Satan's tempting 
her, viz. by whispering to her in her sleep ; it was a 
cunning trick, that's the truth of it, and by that means 



HISTORY OF THE DEVLL. 95 

he certainly set her head a madding after deism, and 
to be made a goddess, and then backed it by the subtle 
talk he had with her afterwards. 

I am the more particular upon this part, because, 
however the devil may have been the first that ever 
practised it, yet I can assure him the experiment has 
been tried upon many a woman since, to the wheedling 
her out of her modesty, as well as her simplicity ; and 
the cunning men tell us still, that if yqu^eaia come at a 
woman when she is in a deep sleep, and whisper to her 
close to her ear, she will certainly dream of the thing 
you say to her, and so will a man too. 

Well, be this so to her race or not, it was it seems 
so to her ; for she waked with her head filled with 
pleasing ideas, and, as some will have it, unlawful de- 
sires ; such as, to be sure, she never had entertained 
before, fatally infused in her dream, and suggested to 
her waking sou], when the organ ear which conveyed 
them was dosed and insensible. Strange fate of sleep- 
ing in Paradise ! that we seem to have notice but of 
two sleeps there, and that in one, a woman should go 
out of him, and in the other, the Devil should come 
into her. 

Certainly, when Satan first made the attempt upon 
Eve, he did not think he should have so easily con- 
quered her, or have brought his business about so 
soon ; the Devil himself could not have imagined she 
should have been so soon brought to forget the com- 
mand given, or at least who gave it, and have ventured 
to transgress against him; and made her forget that 
God had told her it should be death to her to touch 
it : and, above all, that she should aspire to be as wise 
as him, who was so ignorant before, as to believe it 
was for fear of her being like himself, that he had for- 
bid it her. 

Well might she be said to be the weaker vessel, 
though Adam himself had little enough to say for his 
being the stronger of the two, when he was over-per- 



96 THE POLITICAL 

suaded (if it were done by persuasion) by his wife to 
do the same thing. 

And mark how wise they were after they had eaten, 
and what fools they both acted like, even to one 
another ; nay, even all the knowledge they attained to 
by it was, for aught I see, only to know that they were 
fools to be sensible of sin and shame ; and see how 
simply they acted, I say, upon their having committed 
the crime, and being detected in it. 



View them to-day conversing with their God, 

His image both enjoy'd and understood, 

To-morrow skulking with a sordid flight, 

Among the bushes from the infinite, 

As if that power was blind which gave them sight ; 

With senseless labour tagging fig-leaf-vests, 

To hide their bodies from the sight of beasts. 

Hark ! how the fool pleads faint, for forfeit life, 
First he reproaches heaven, and then his wife : 
The woman which thou gav'st, as if the gift 
Could rob him of the little reason left, 
A weak pretence to shift his early crime, 
As if accusing her would excuse him ; 
But thus encroaching crime dethrones the sense, 
And intercepts the heavenly influence ; 
Debauches reason, makes the man a fool, 
And turns his active li°'ht to ridicule. 



It must be confessed, that it was unaccountable de- 
generacy, even of their common reasoning, which 
Adam and Eve both fell into upon the first committing 
the offence of taking the forbidden fruit : if that was 
their being made as gods, it made but a poor appear- 
ance in its first coming, to hide their nakedness when 
there was nobody to see them, and cover themselves 
among the bushes from their Maker ; but thus it was, 
and this the Devil had brought them to, and well 
might he and all the clan of hell, as Mr. Milton brings 
them in, laugh and triumph over the man after the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 97 

blow was given, as having so egregiously abused and 
deluded them both. 

But here, to be sure, began the Devil's new king- 
dom ; as he had now seduced the two first creatures, 
he was pretty sure of success upon all the race, and 
therefore prepared to attack them also, as soon as they 
came on ; nor was their increasing multitude any dis- 
couragement to his attempt, but just the contrary ; for 
he had agents enough to employ, if every man and 
woman that should be born was to want a devil to 
wait upon them, separately and singly to seduce them; 
whereas some whole nations have been such willing 
subjects to him, that one of his seraphic imps may, for 
aught we know, have been enough to guide a whole 
country ; the people being entirely subjected to his 
government for many ages ; as in America, for ex- 
ample, where some will have it, that he conveyed the 
first inhabitants, at least, if he did not, we don't well 
know who did, or how they got thither. 

And how came all the communication to be so 
entirely cut off between the nations of Europe and 
Africa, from whence America must certainly have 
been peopled, or else the Devil must have done it in- 
deed ? I say, how came the communication to be so 
entirely cut off between them, that except the time, 
whenever it was, that people did at first reach from one 
to the other, none ever came back to give their friends 
any account of their success, or invite them to follow ? 
Nor did they hear of one another afterwards, as we 
have reason to think : did Satan politically keep them 
thus asunder, lest news from heaven should reach 
them, and so they should be recovered out of his go- 
vernment ? We cannot tell how to give any other 
rational account of it, that a nation, nay, a quarter of 
the world, or as some will have it be, half the globe, 
should be peopled from Europe or Africa, or both, and 
nobody ever go after them, or come back from them in 
above three thousand years after. 

H. D. H 



98 THE POLITICAL 

Nay, that those countries should be peopled when 
there was no navigation in use in these parts of the 
world, no ships made that could carry provisions 
enough to support the people that sailed in them, but 
that they must have been starved to death before they 
could reach the shore of America ; the ferry from 
Europe or Africa, in any part (which we have known 
navigation to be practised in) being at least a 
thousand miles, and in most places much more. 

But as to the Americans, let the Devil and they 
alone to account for their coming thither, this we are 
certain of, that we knew nothing of them for many 
hundred years ; and when we did, when the discovery 
was made, they that went from hence, found Satan in 
a full and quiet possession of them, ruling them with 
an arbitrary government, particular to himself. He had 
led them into a blind subjection to himself, nay, I 
might call it devotion, (for it was all of religion that 
was to be found among them,) worshipping horrible 
idols in his name, to whom he directed human sacri- 
fices continually to be made, till he deluged the 
country with blood, and ripened them up for the de- 
struction that followed from the invasion of the 
Spaniards, who he knew would hurry them all out of 
the world as fast as he (the Devil) himself could desire 
of them. 

But to go back a little to the original of things, it is 
evident that Satan has made a much better market of 
mankind, by thus subtilly attacking them, and bring- 
ing them to break with their Maker, as he had done 
before them, than he could have done by fulminating 
upon them at first, and sending them all out of the 
world at once; for nowhe has peopled his own dominions 
with them, and though a remnant are snatched, as it 
were, out of his clutches, by the agency of invincible 
grace, of which I am not to discourse in this place ; 
yet this may be said of the Devil, without offence, that 
he has in some sense carried his point, and, as it were, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 99 

forced his Maker to be satisfied with a part of mankind, 
and the least part too, instead of the great glory he 
would have brought to himself by keeping them all in 
his service. 

Mr. Milton, as I have noted above, brings in the 
Devil and all hell with him, making a feu de joie for 
the victory Satan obtained over one silly woman ; in- 
deed, it was a piece of success, greater in its conse- 
quence than in the immediate appearance ; nor was 
the conquest so complete as Satan himself imagined to 
make, since the promise of a redemption out of his 
hands, which was immediately made to the man, in 
behalf of himself and his believing posterity, was a 
great disappointment to Satan ; and, as it were, 
snatched the best part of his victory out of his hands. 

It is certain the devils knew what the meaning of 
that promise was, and who was to be the seed of the 
woman, namely, the incarnate Son of God, and that it 
was a second blow to the whole infernal body ; but, as 
if they had resolved to let that alone, Satan went on 
with his business; and as he had introduced crime 
into the common parent of mankind, and thereby se- 
cured the contamination of blood, and the descent or 
propagation of the corrupt seed, he had nothing to do 
but to assist nature in time to come, to carry on its 
own rebellion, and act itself in the breasts of Eve's 
tainted posterity ; and that indeed has been the Devil's 
business ever since his first victory upon the kind, to 
this day. 

His success in this part has been such, that we see 
upon innumerable occasions a general defection has 
followed ; a kind of a taint upon nature, call it what 
you will, a blast upon the race of mankind ; and were 
it not for one thing, he had ruined the whole family ; I 
say, were it not for one thing, namely, a selected com- 
pany or number, who his Maker has resolved he shall 
not be able to corrupt, or if he does, the sending the 
promised seed shall recover back again from him, by 

h2 



100 THE POLITICAL 

the power of irresistible grace ; which number thus se- 
lected, or elected, call it which we will, are still to 
supply the vacancies in heaven, which Satan's defec- 
tion left open; and what was before filled up with 
created seraphs, is now to be restored by recovered 
saints, by whom infinite glory is to accrue to the king- 
dom of the Redeemer. 

This glorious establishment has robbed Satan of all 
the joy of his victory, and left him just where he was, 
defeated and disappointed ; nor does the possession of 
all the myriads of the sons of perdition, who yet some 
are of the opinion will be snatched from him too at 
last ; I say, the possession of all these makes no amends 
to him, for he is such a devil in his nature, that the 
envy at those he cannot seduce, eats out all the satis- 
faction of the mischief he has done in seducing all the 
rest ; but I must not preach, so I return to things as 
much needful to know, though less solemn. 




HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 101 



CHAP. IX. 



Of the progress of Satan in carrying on his conquest 
over mankind, from the fall of Eve to the Deluge. 

I doubt if the Devil was asked the question plainly, he 
would confess, that after he had conquered Eve by his 
own wicked contrivance, and then by her assistance 
had brought Adam too, like a fool as he was, into the 
same gulf of misery, he thought he had done his work, 
compassed the whole race, that they were now his own, 
and that he had put an end to the grand design of 
their creation ; namely, of peopling heaven with a new 
angelic race of souls, who when glorified, should make 
up the defection of the host of hell, that had been ex- 
punged by their crime; and that, in a word, he had 
gotten a better conquest than if he had destroyed them 
all. , 

But that in the midst of his conquest, he found a 
check put to the advantages he expected to reap from 
his victory, by the immediate promise of grace to a 
part of the posterity of Adam, who, notwithstanding 
the fall, were to be purchased by the Messiah, and 
snatched out of his (Satan's) hands, and over whom he 
could make no final conquest ; so that his power met 
with a new limitation, and that such, as indeed fully 
disappointed him in the main thing he aimed at, viz., 
preventing the beatitudes of mankind, which were 
thus secured ; (and what if the numbers of mankind 
were, upon this account, increased in such a manner, 
that the selected number should, by length of time, 
amount to just as many as the whole race, had they 
not fallen, would have amounted to in all ?) and thus, 
indeed, the world may be said to be upheld and con- 



102 THE POLITICAL 

tinued for the sake of those few, since till their number 
can be completed, the creation cannot fall, any more 
than that without them, or but for them, it would not 
have stood. 

But leaving this speculation, and not having in- 
quired of Satan what he has to say on that subject, let 
us go back to the antediluvian world ; the Devil, to be 
sure, gained his point upon Eve, and in her upon all 
her race ; he drew her into sin ; got her turned out of 
Paradise, and the man with her : the next thing was to 
go to work with her posterity, and particularly with her 
two sons, Cain and Abel. 

Adam having, notwithstanding his fall, repented very 
sincerely of his sin, received the promise of redemp- 
tion and pardon, with an humble but believing heart ; 
charity bids us suppose that he led a very religious and 
sober life ever after, and especially in the first part of 
his time ; that he brought up his children very soberly, 
and gave them all the necessary advantages of a religi- 
ous education, and a good introduction into the world, 
that he was capable of, and that Eve assisted to both 
in her place and degree. 

Their two eldest sons, Cain and Abel, the one heir 
apparent to the patriarchal empire, and the other heir 
presumptive, I suppose also, lived very sober and reli- 
gious lives ; and as the principles of natural religion 
dictated a homage and subjection due to the Almighty 
Maker, as an acknowledgment of his mercies, and a 
recognition of their obedience ; so the received usage 
of religion dictating at that time that this homage 
was to be paid by a sacrifice, they either of them 
brought a free-will offering to be dedicated to God, re- 
spectively for themselves and families. 

How it was, and for what reason, that God had re- 
spect to the offering of Abel, which, the learned say, 
was a lamb of the firstlings of the flock, and did not 
give any testimony of the like respect to Cain and his 
offering, which was of the first-fruits of the earth, the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 103 

offerings being equally suited to the respective employ- 
ment of the men, that is not my present business ; but 
this we find made heart-burnings, and raised envy and 
jealousy in the mind of Cain, and at that door the 
Devil immediately entered ; for he, from the beginning 
was very diligent in his way, never slipped any oppor- 
tunity, or missed any advantages, that the circumstan- 
ces of mankind offered him, to do mischief 

What shape or appearance the Devil took up to en- 
ter into a conversation with Cain upon the subject, 
that authors do not take upon them to determine ; but 
it is generally supposed he personated some of Cain's 
sons or grandsons to begin the discourse, who attacked 
their father, or perhaps grandfather, upon this occasion, 
in the following manner, or to that purpose. 

D. Sir, I perceive your majesty (for the first race 
were certainly all monarchs, as great as kings, to their 
immediate posterity) to be greatly disturbed of late, 
your countenance is changed, your noble cheerfulness 
(the glories of your face) are strangely sunk and gone, 
and you are not the man you used to be ; please your 
majesty to communicate your griefs to us your chil- 
dren 3 you may be sure that, if it be possible, we would 
procure you relief, and restore your delights, the loss 
of which, if thus you go on to subject yourself to too 
much melancholy, will be very hurtful to you, and in 
the end destroy you. 

Cain. It is very kind, my dear children, to show 
your respect thus to your true progenitor, and to offer 
your assistance. I confess, as you say, my mind is op- 
pressed and displeased ; but though it is very heavy, 
yet I know not which way to look for relief, for the 
distemper is above our reach, no cure can be found for 
it on earth. 

D. Do not say so, sir ; there can be no disease sure 
on earth but may be cured on earth ; if it be a mental 
evil, we have heard that your great ancestor, the first 
father of us all, who lives still on the great western 



104 THE POLITICAL 

plains towards the sea, is the oracle to which all his 
children fly for direction in such cases as are out of the 
reach of the ordinary understanding of mankind; please 
you to give leave, we will take a journey to him, and, re- 
presenting your case to him, we will hear his advice, 
and bring it to you with all speed, for the ease of your 
mind. 

Cain. I know not whether he can reach my case or no. 

D. Doubtless he may, and if not, the labour of our 
journey is nothing when placed in competition with 
the ease of your mind ; it is but a few days' travel lost, 
and you will not be the worse if we fail of the desired 
success. 

Cain. The offer is filial, and I accept your affection- 
ate concern for me, with a just sense of an obliged 
parent; go, then, and my blessing be upon you; but, 
alas ! why do I bless ? can he bless whom God has not 
blessed? 

D. O ! sir, do not say so ; has not God blessed you ? 
are you not the second sovereign of the earth ? and 
does he not converse with you face to face ? are not 
you the oracle to all your growing posterity, and. next 
after his sovereign imperial majesty lord Adam, patri- 
arch of the world ? 

Cain. But has not God rejected me, and refused to 
converse any more with me, while he daily favours and 
countenances my younger brother Abel, as if he re- 
solved to set him up to rule over me ? 

D. No, sir, that cannot be, you cannot be disturbed 
at such a thing ; is not the right of sovereignty yours 
by primogeniture ? can God himself take that away, 
when it is once given ? are not you lord Adam's eldest 
son ? are you not the first-born glory of the creation ? 
and does not the government descend to you by the 
divine right of birth and blood ? 

Cain. But what does all that signify to me, while 
God appears to favour and caress my younger brother, 
and to shine upon him, while a black dejection and 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 105 

token of displeasure surrounds me every day, and he 
does not appear to me as he used to do ? 

D. And what need your majesty be concerned at 
that, if it be so ? if he does not appear pleased, you 
have the whole world to enjoy yourself in, and all your 
numerous and rising posterity adore and honour you ; 
what need those remote things be any disturbance to 
you? 

Cain. How ! my children ; not the favour of God be 
valued ! yes, yes, in his favour is life ; what can all the 
world avail without the smiles and countenance of him 
that made it ? 

D. Doubtless, sir, he that made the world and 
placed you at the head of it all, to govern and direct it, 
has made it agreeable, and it is able to give you a full 
satisfaction and enjoyment, if you please to consider it 
well, though you were never to converse with him all 
the while you live in it. 

Cain. You are quite wrong there, my children, 
quite wrong. 

D. But do you not, great sir, see all your children 
as well as us rejoicing in the plenty of all things, and 
are they not completely happy, and yet they know little 
of this great God, he seldom converses among us ; we 
hear of him indeed by your sage advices, and we bring 
our offerings to you for him, as you direct, and when 
that is done, we enjoy whatever our hearts' desire ; 
and so doubtless may you in an abundant manner if 
you please. 

Cain. But your felicity is wrong placed then, or 
you suppose that God is pleased and satisfied in that 
your offerings are brought to me ; but what would you 
say, if you knew that God is displeased ? that he does 
not accept your offerings ? that, when I sacrificed to 
him in behalf of you all, he rejected my offerings, 
though I brought a princely gift, being of the finest of 
the wheat, the choicest and earliest fruits, and sweetest 
of the oil, an offering suited to the giver of them all ? 



108 THE POLITICAL 

D. But if you offered them, sir, how are you sure 
they were not accepted ? 

Cain. Yes, yes, I am sure ; did not my brother 
Abel offer at the same time a lamb of his flock, (for he, 
you know, delights in cattle, and covers the mountains 
with his herds,) over him, all the while he was sacri- 
ficing, a bright emanation shone, cheering and enliven- 
ing, a pledge of favour; and light ambient flames played 
hovering in the lower air, as if attending his sacrifice ; 
and, when ready prepared, immediately descended 
and burnt up the flesh, a sweet odoriferous savour as- 
cending to him, who thus testified his acceptance ; 
whereas, over my head a black cloud, misty, and dis- 
tilling vapour, hung dripping upon the humble altar I 
had raised, and, wetting the finest and choicest things 
I had prepared, spoiled and defaced them ; the wood 
unapt to burn by the moisture which fell, scarce re- 
ceived the fire I brought to kindle it, and even then, 
rather smothered and choked, than kindled into a 
flame ; in a word, it went quite out, without consum- 
ing what was brought to be offered up. 

D. Let not our truly reverenced lord and father be 
disquieted at all this ; if he accepts not what you bring, 
you are discharged of the debt, and need bring no more, 
nor have the trouble of such laboured collections of 
rarities any more; when he thinks fit to require it again 
you will have notice, no question, and then it being 
called for, will be accepted, or else why should it be 
required ? 

Cain. That may indeed be the case, nor do I think 
of attempting any more to bring an offering, for I 
rather take it, that I am forbidden for the present ; 
but then, what is it that my younger brother triumphs 
in? and how am I insulted, in that he and his house 
are all joy and triumph, as if they had some great ad- 
vantage over me, in that their offering was accepted 
when mine was not? 

D. Does he triumph over your majesty, our lord and 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 107 

sovereign ? give us but your order, and we will go and 
pull him and all his generation in pieces ; for to 
triumph over you who are his elder brother, is a horrid 
rebellion and treason, and he ought to be excelled the 
society of mankind. 

Cain. I think so too, indeed ; however, my dear 
children and faithful subject, though I accept your 
offer of duty and service, yet I will consider very well, 
before I take up arms against my brother ; besides, our 
sovereign father and lord, partriarchal Adani, being 
yet alive, it is not in my right to act offensively with- 
out his command. 

D. We are ready therefore to carry your petition to 
him, and doubt not to obtain his license and commission 
too, to empower you to do yourself justice upon your 
younger brother ; who, being your vassal, or at least 
inferior, as he is junior in birth, insults you upon the 
fancied opinion of having a larger share in the divine 
favour, and receiving a blessing on his sacrifices, on 
pretence of the same favour being denied you. 

Cain. I am content; go then, and give a just account 
of the state of our affairs. 

D. We shall soon return with the agreeable answer; 
let not our lord and father continue sad and dejected, 
but depend upon a speedy relief, by the assistance of 
thy numerous issue, all devoted to thy interest and 
felicity. 

Cain. My blessing be with you in your way, and 
give you a favourable reception at the venerable tent 
of our universal lord and father. 

Note. Here the cursed race being fully given up to 
the direction of the evil spirit, which so early possessed 
them, and swelling with rage at the innocent Abel and 
his whole family, they resolved upon forming a most 
wicked and detestable lie, to bring about the advice 
which they had already given their father Cain a touch 
of; and to pretend that Adam being justly provoked at 



108 THE POLITICAL 

the imdutiful behaviour of Abel, had given Cain a 
commission to chastise him, and by force to cut him 
off and all his family, as guilty of rebellion and pride. 

Filled with this mischievous and bloody resolution, 
they came back to their father Cain, after staying a 
few days, such as were sufficient to make Cain believe 
they had been at the plains of Shinnar, where Adam 
dwelt; the same which are now called the blessed 
valleys, or the plains of Mecca in Arabia Felix, near 
the banks of the Red sea. 

Note here also, that Cain having received a wicked 
hint from these men, his children and subjects, as be- 
fore, intimating that Abel had broken the laws of 
primogeniture in his behaviour towards him, (Cain,) 
and that he might be justly punished for it; Satan, 
that cunning manager of all our wayward passions, 
fanned the fire of envy and jealousy with his utmost 
skill all the while his other agents were absent ; and by 
the time they came back had blowed it up into such a 
heat of fury and rage, that it wanted nothing but air 
to make it burn out, as it soon afterwards did, in a 
furious flame of wrath and revenge, even to blood and 
destruction. 

Just in the very critical moment, while things stood 
thus with Cain, Satan brings in his wicked instruments, 
as if just arrived with the return of his message from 
Adam, at whose court they had been for orders ; and 
thus they, that is the Devil, assuming to speak by them, 
approach their father with an air of solemn but cheerful 
satisfaction at the success of their embassy. 

D. Hail, sovereign, reverend, patriarchal lord ! we 
come with joy to render thee an account of the success 
of our message. 

Cain. Have you then seen the venerable tents, where 
dwell the heaven-born, the angelic pair, to whom all 
human reverence highly due, is and ought always to be 
humbly paid ? 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 109 

D. We have. 

Cain. Did you, together with my grand request, a 
just, a humble homage for me pay to the great sire and 
mother of mankind ? 

D. We did. 

Cain. Did you in humble language represent the 
griefs and anguish which oppress my soul ? 

D. We did, and back their blessing to thee bring. 

Cain. I hope with humblest signs of filial duty you 
took it for me on your bending knees ? 

D. We did, and had our share ; the patriarch, lifting 
his hands to heaven, expressed his joy to see his 
spreading race, and blessed us all. 

Cain. Did you my solemn message too deliver, my 
injuries impartially lay down, and due assistance and 
direction crave? 

D. We did. 

Cain. What spoke the oracle? he's God to me; 
what just command d'ye bring ? what's to be done ? am 
I to bear the insulting junior's rage, and meekly 
suffer what unjustly he, affronting primogeniture and 
laws of God and man, imposes by his pride unsufferable ? 
am I to be crushed, and be no more the first-born son 
on earth, but bow and kneel to him ? 

D. Forbid it heaven ! as Adam too forbids; who, with 
a justice godlike, and peculiar to injured parents, 
Abel's pride resents, and gives his high command to 
thee to punish. 

Cain. To punish, say you ! Did he use the word, the 
very word? am I commissioned then to punish Abel? 

D. Not Abel only, but his rebel race; as they, alike 
in crime, alike are joined in punishment. 

Cain. The race indeed have shared the merit with 
him ; how did they all insult, and with a shout of tri- 
umph mock my sorrow, when they saw me from my 
sacrifice dejected come; as if my disappointment was 
their joy. 

D, This, too, the venerable prince resents; and to 



110 THE POLITICAL 

preserve the race in bounds of laws subordinate and 
limited to duty, commands that this first breach be not 
passed by, lest the precedent upon record stand to fu- 
ture times to encourage like rebellion. 

Cain. And is it then my sovereign parent's will ? 

D. It is his will, that thou, his eldest son, his 
image, his beloved, should be maintained in all the 
rights of sovereignty derived to thee from him ; and 
not be left exposed to injury and power usurped, but 
should do thyself justice on the rebel race. 

Cain. And so I will. Abel shall quickly know what 
it is to trample on his elder brother ; shall know that 
he is thus sentenced by his father, and I am commis- 
sioned but to execute his high command, his sentence, 
which is God's ; and that he falls by the hand of 
heavenly justice. 

So now Satan had done his work : he had deluded 
the mother to a breach against the first and only com- 
mand; he had drawn Adam to the same snare; and now 
he brings in Cain, prompted by his own rage, and de- 
luded by his (Satan's) craft, to commit murder, na}', a 
fratricide, an aggravated murder. 

Upon this he sends out Cain, while the bloody rage 
was in its ferment, and wickedly at the same time 
bringing Abel, innocent and fearing no ill, just in his 
way, he suggests to his thoughts such words as these. 

Look you, Cain, see how divine justice concurs with 
your father's righteous sentence ; see there is thy bro- 
ther Abel directed by heaven to fall into thy hands un- 
armed, unguarded, that thou mayest do thyself justice 
upon him without fear ; see, thou mayest kill him, and 
if thou hast a mind to conceal it, no eyes can see, or 
will the world ever know it, so that no resentment or 
revenge upon thee or thy posterity can be appre- 
hended, but it may be said some wild beast had rent 
him ; nor will any one suggest that thou, his brother 
and superior, could be possibly the person. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. Ill 

Cain, prepared for the fact by his former avowed 
rage and resolution of revenge, was so much the less 
prepared to avoid the snare thus artfully contrived by 
the master of all subtilty, the Devil ; so he immediately 
runs upon his brother Abel, and, after a little unarmed 
resistance, the innocent poor man, expecting no such 
mischief, was conquered and murdered ; after which, as 
is to be supposed, the exasperated crew of Cain's out- 
rageous race, overrun all his family and household, 
killing man, woman, and child. 

It is objected here that we have no authority in 
Scripture to prove this part of the story ; but I an- 
swer, it is not likely but that Abel, as well as Cain, 
being at man's estate long before this, had several 
children by their own sisters, for they were the only 
men in the world who were allowed the marrying their 
own sisters, there being no other women then in the 
world ; and as we never read of any of Abel's posterity, 
it is likewise as probable they were all murdered, as 
that they should kill Abel only, whose sons might im- 
mediately fall upon Cain for the blood of their father, 
and so the world have been involved in a civil war as 
soon as there were two families in it. 

But be it so or not, it is not doubted the Devil 
wrought with Cain in the horrid murder, or he had 
never done it ; whether it was directly or by agents is 
not material, nor is the latter unlikely ; and if the lat- 
ter, then there is no improbability in the story, for why 
might not he that made use of the serpent to tempt 
Eve, be as well supposed to make a tool of some of 
Cain's sons or grandsons to prompt him in the wicked 
attempt of murdering his brother ? and why must we 
be obliged to bring in a miracle or an apparition into 
the story, to make it probable that the devil had any 
hand in it, when it was so natural to a degenerate race 
to act in such a manner ? 

However it was, and by whatever tool the Devil 
wrought, it is certain, that this was the consequence, 



112 THE POLITICAL 

poor Abel was butchered ; and thus the Devil made a 
second conquest in God's creaton ; for Adam was now, 
as maybe said, really childless, for his two sons were thus 
far lost, Abel was killed, and Cain was cursed and driven 
out from the presence of the Lord, and his race blasted 
with him. 

It would be a useful inquiry here, and worthy our 
giving an account of, could we come to a certainty in 
it, namely, what was the mark that God set upon Cain 
by which he was kept from being fallen upon by Abel's 
friends or relations ? but as this does not belong to the 
Devil's history, and it was God's mark, not the Devil's, 
I have nothing to do with it here. 

The Devil had now gained his point,, the kingdom of 
grace, so newly erected, had been, as it were, extinct, 
without a new creation, had not Adam and Eve been 
alive, and had not Eve, though now one hundred and 
thirty years of age, been a breeding young lady, for we 
must suppose the women in that state of longevity 
bare children till they were seven or eight hundred 
years old : this teeming of Eve peopled not the world 
so much as it restored the blessed race ; for though 
Abel was killed, Cain had a numerous offspring pre- 
sently, which, had Seth, Adam's third son, never been 
born would soon have replenished the world with people, 
such as they were ; the seed of a murderer, cursed of 
God, branded with a mark of infamy, and who after- 
wards fell altogether in the universal ruin of the race 
by the Deluge. 

But after the murder of Abel, Adam had another 
son born, namely, Seth, the father of Enos, and indeed 
the father of the holy race ; for during his time and 
his son Enos, the text says, that men began to call on 
the name of the Lord ; that is to say, they began to 
look back upon Cain and his wicked race, and being 
convinced of the wickedness they had committed, and led 
their whole posterity into, they began to sue to heaven for 
pardon of what was past, and to lead a new sort of life. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 113 

But the Devil had met with too much success in his 
first attempts, not to go on with his general resolution 
of debauching the minds of men, and bringing them off 
from God ; and, therefore, as he kept his hold upon 
Cain's cursed race, embroiled already in blood and 
murder, so he proceeded with his degenerate offspring, 
till, in a word, he brought both the holy seed and the 
degenerate race to join in one universal consent of 
crime, and to go on in it with such aggravating cir- 
cumstances, as that it repented the Lord that he had 
made man, and he resolved to overwhelm them again 
with a general destruction, and clear the world of 
them. 

The succession of blood in the royal original line of 
Adam, is preserved in the sacred histories, and brought 
down as low as Noah and his three sons, for a conti- 
nued series of 1540 years, say some ; 1640, say others ; 
in which time sin spread itself so generally through 
the whole race, and the sons of God, so the Scripture 
calls the men of the righteous seed, the progeny of 
Seth came in unto the daughters of men, that is, 
joined themselves to the cursed race of Cain, and mar- 
ried promiscuously with them, according to their 
fancies, the women it seems being beautiful and tempt- 
ing ; and though the Devil could not make the women 
handsome or ugly on one or other families, yet he 
might work up the gust of wicked inclination on either 
side, so as to make both the men and women tempting 
and agreeable to one another where they ought not 
to have been so ; and perhaps, as it is often seen to 
this day, the more tempting for being under legal re- 
straint. 

It is objected here, that we do not find in the Scrip- 
ture that the men of either race were at that time for- 
bid intermarrying with one another; and it is true 
that, literally, it is not forbid ; but if we did not search 
rather to make doubts than to explain them, we might 
suppose it was forbidden by some particular command 

H. D. I 



114 THE POLITICAL 

at that time ; seeing we may reasonably allow every- 
thing to be forbidden, which they are taxed with a 
crime in committing ; and as the sons of God taking 
them wives as they thought fit to choose, though from 
among the daughters of the cursed race, is there 
charged upon them as a general depravation, and a 
great crime, and for which, it is said, God even re- 
pented that he had made them, we need go no further 
to satisfy ourselves that it was certainly forbidden. 

Satan, no doubt, too, had a hand in this wickedness ; 
for as it was his business to prompt men to do every- 
thing which God had prohibited, so the reason given 
why the men of those days did this thing was, they 
saw the daughters of men, that is of the wicked race 
or forbidden sort, were fair, he tempted them by the 
lust of the eye; in a word, the ladies were beautiful 
and agreeable, and the Devil knew how to make use of 
the allurement ; the men liked and took them by the 
mere direction of their fancy and appetite, without re- 
garding the supreme prohibition ; They took them 
wives of all which they chose, or such as they liked to 
choose. 

But the text adds, that this promiscuous generation 
went further than the mere outward crime of it, for it 
showed that the wickedness of the heart of man was 
great before God, and that he resented it; in short, 
God perceived a degeneracy or defect of virtue had 
seized upon the whole race, that there was a general 
corruption of manners and a depravity of nature upon 
them, that even the holy seed was tainted with it, that 
the Devil had broken in upon them, and prevailed to 
a great degree ; that not only the practice of the age 
was corrupt, for that God could easily have restrained, 
but that the very heart of man was debauched, his de- 
sires wholly vitiated, and his senses engaged in it ; so 
that, in a word, it became necessary to show the divine 
displeasure, not in the ordinary manner, by judgment 
and reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim men, but 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 115 

by a general destruction to sweep them away, clear 
the earth of them, and put an end to the wickedness 
at once, removing the offence and the offenders all to- 
gether ; this is signified at large, Gen. vi. 5, God saw 
that the icickedness of man teas great in the earth, and 
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart ivas 
only evil continually. And again, v. 11, 12, The earth 
also was corrupt before God ; and the earth iv as filled 
with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and 
behold it ivas corrupt ; for all flesh had corrupted his 
way upon the earth. 

It must be confessed, it was a strange conquest the 
Devil had made in the antediluvian world ; that he had, 
as I may say, brought the whole race of mankind into a 
general revolt from God ; Noah was indeed a preacher 
of righteousness, and he had preached about five hun- 
dred years to as little purpose as most of the good mi- 
nisters ever did ; for we do not read there was one man 
converted by him, or at least not one of them left, for 
that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, 
or none spared but Noah and his three sons and their 
wives ; and even they are, it is evident, recorded, not 
so much to be saved for their own goodness, but be- 
cause they were his sons ; nay, without breach of cha- 
rity, we may conclude that at least one went to the 
Devil, even of those three, namely Canaan, for triumph- 
ing in a brutal manner over his father's drunkenness ; 
for we find the special curse reached to him and his 
posterity for many ages ; and whether it went no 
further than the present state of life with them, we 
cannot tell. 

We will suppose, now, that through this whole fifteen 
hundred years, the Devil, having so effectually debauched 
mankind, had advanced his infernal kingdom to a pro- 
digious height ; for the text says, the whole earth icas 
filled with violence ; in a word, blood, murder, rape, 
robbery, oppression and injustice, prevailed everywhere; 

i2 



116 THE POLITICAL 

and man, like the wild bear in the forest, lived by prey, 
biting and devouring one another. 

At this time, Noah begins to preach a new doctrine 
to them, for as he had before been a preacher of right- 
eousness, now he becomes a preacher of vengeance ; 
first, he tells them they shall be all overwhelmed with 
a Deluge ; that for their sins God repented they were 
made, and that he would destroy them all ; adding, that 
to prevent the ruin of himself and family, he resolved 
to build him a ship to have recourse to when the water 
should come over the rest of the world. 

What jesting, what scorn, what contempt did this 
work expose the good old man to for above a hundred 
years ; for so long the work was building, as ancient 
authors say. Let us represent to ourselves, in the most 
lively manner, how the witty world at that time behaved 
to poor old Noah ; how they took their evening walks 
to see what he was doing, and passed their judgment 
upon it, and upon the progress of it ; I say, to repre- 
sent this to ourselves, we need go no further than to our 
own witticisms upon religion, and upon the most solemn 
mysteries of divine worship ; how we damn the serious 
for enthusiasts, think the grave mad, and the sober 
melancholy; call religion itself flatus and hyppo ; make 
the devout ignorant, the divine mercenary, and the 
whole scheme of divinity a frame of priestcraft ; and 
thus no doubt the building an ark or boat, or whatever 
they called it, to float over the mountains and dance 
over the plains, what could it be but a religious frenzy, 
and the man that so busied himself, a lunatic ; and all 
this in an age when divine things came by immediate 
revelation into the minds of men ! The Devil must 
therefore have made a strange conquest upon mankind, 
to obliterate all the reverence, which, but a little before, 
was so strangely impressed upon them concerning their 
Maker. 

This was certainly the height of the Devil's king- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 117 

dom, and we shall never find him arrive to such a pitch 
again ; he was then truly and literally the universal 
monarch, nay, the god of this world ; and as all tyrants 
do, he governs them with an arbitrary absolute sway ; 
and had not God thought fit to give him a writ of 
ejectment, and afterwards drown him out of possession, 
I know not what would have been the case ; he might 
have kept his hold, for aught I know, till the seed of the 
woman came to bruise his head, that is to say, cripple 
his government, dethrone him, and depose his power, 
as has been fulfilled in the Messiah. 

But as he was, I say, drowned out of the world, his 
kingdom for the present was at an end ; at least, if he 
had a dominion he had no subjects, and as the creation 
was in a manner renewed, so the Devil had all his 
work to do over again. Unhappy man ! how has he, by 
his weak resistance, made the Devil, recovering his hold 
too easy to him, and given him all the advantages, 
except as before excepted, which he had before ? Now 
whither he retired in the mean time, and how he got 
footing again after Noah and his family were landed 
upon the new surface, that we come next to inquire. 



118 THE POLITIC Ali 



CHAP. X. 

Of the DeviVs second kingdom, and how he got footing 
in the renewed world, by his victory over Noah and 
his race. 

The story of Noah, his building the ark, his embarking 
himself and all nature's stock for a new world on board 
it ; the long voyage they took, and the bad weather 
they met with, though it would embellish this work 
very well, and come in very much to the purpose in 
this place, yet as it does not belong to the Devil's story, 
(for I cannot prove what some suggest, viz. that he 
was in the ark among the rest,) I say, for that reason I 
must omit it. 

And now, having mentioned Satan's being in the 
ark, as I say I cannot prove it, so there are, I think, 
some good reasons to believe he was not there : first, I 
know no business he had there ; secondly, we read of 
no mischief done there, and these joined together make 
me conclude he was absent ; the last I chiefly insist 
upon, that we read of no mischief done there, which if 
he had been in the ark would certainly have happened ; 
and therefore I suppose rather, that when he saw his 
kingdom dissolved, his subjects all ingulfed in an 
inevitable ruin and desolation, (a sight suitable enough 
to him, except as it might unking him for a time,) I 
say, when he saw this, he took care to speed himself 
away as well as he could, and make his retreat to a 
place of safety, where that was, is no more difficult to 
us, than it was to him. 

It is suggested, that as he is prince of the power of 
the air, he retired only into that region. It is most 
rational to suppose he went no further on many ac- 
counts, of which I shall speak by and by: here he stayed 



HISTORY OF THE BEVEL. 119 

hovering in the earth's atmosphere, as he has often 
done since, and perhaps now does ; or if the atmo- 
sphere of this globe was affected by the indraft of the 
absorption, as some think, then he kept himself upon 
the watch to see what the event of the new phenomenon 
would be ; and this watch, wherever it was, I doubt not, 
was as near the earth as he could place himself, perhaps 
in the atmosphere of the moon, or, in a word, the next 
place of retreat he could find. 

From hence I take upon me to insist, that Satan has 
not a more certain knowledge of events than we ; I say, 
he has not a more certain knowledge ; that he may be 
able to make stronger conjectures and more rational 
conclusions from what he sees, I will not deny ; and 
that which he most outdoes us in is, that he sees more 
to conclude from than we can, but I am satisfied he 
knows nothing of futurity more than he can see by ob- 
servation and inference : nor, for example, did he know 
whether God would repeople the world any more or 
no. 

I must therefore allow that he only waited to see 
what would be the event of this strange eruption of 
water, and what God purposed to do with the ark, and 
all that was in it. 

Some philosophers tell us, besides what I hinted 
above, that the Devil could have no retreat in the 
earth's atmosphere, for that the air being wholly con- 
densed into water, and having continually poured down 
its streams to deluge the earth, that body was become 
so small, and had suffered such convulsions, that there 
was but just enough air left to surround the water, or 
as might serve by its pressure to preserve the natural 
position of things, and supply the creatures in the ark 
with a part to breathe in. 

The atmosphere, indeed, might suffer some strange 
and unnatural motions at that time, but not, I believe, 
to that degree ; however, I will not affirm that there 
could be room in it, or is now, for the Devil, much less 



120 THE POLITICAL 

for all the numberless legions of Satan's host ; bat 
there was, and now certainly is, sufficient space to re- 
ceive him, and a sufficient body of his troops for the 
business he had for them at that time, and that is 
enough to the purpose; or, if the earth's atmosphere 
did suffer any particular convulsion on that occasion, 
he might make his retreat to the atmosphere of the 
moon, or of Mars, or of Venus, or of any of the other 
planets, or to any other place ; for he that is prince of 
the air could not want retreats in such a case, from 
whence he might watch for the issue of things ; cer- 
tainly he did not go far, because his business lay here, 
and he never goes out of his way of doing mischief. 

In particular, his more than ordinary concern was 
to see what would become of the ark ; he was wise 
enough doubtless to see, that God, who had directed 
its making, nay, even the very structure of it, would 
certainly take care of it, preserve it upon the water, 
and bring it to some place of safety or other ; though 
where it should be, the Devil with all his cunning 
could not resolve, whether on the same surface, the 
waters drawing off, or in any other created or to be 
created place ; and this state of uncertainty being evi- 
dently his case, and which proves his ignorance of fu- 
turity, it was his business, I say, to watch with the ut- 
most vigilance for the event. 

If the ark was, as Mr. Burnet thinks, guided by two 
angels, they not only held it from foundering or being 
swallowed up in the water, but certainly kept the 
waters calm about it, especially when the Lord brought 
a strong wind to blow over the whole globe, which by 
the way was the first, and, I suppose, the only univer- 
sal storm that ever blew, for to be sure it blew over 
the whole surface at once ; I say, if it was thus guided, 
to be sure the Devil saw it, and that with envy and re- 
gret that he could do it no injury ; for, doubtless, had 
it been in the Devil's power, as God had drowned the 
whole race of man, except what was in the ark, he 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 121 

would have taken care to have dispatched them too, 
and so made an end of the creation at once ; but either 
he was not empowered to go to the ark, or it was so 
well guarded by angels, that when he came near it he 
could do it no harm : so it rested at length, the waters 
abating, on the mountains of Arrarat in Armenia, or 
somewhere else that way, and where they say a piece of 
the keel is remaining to this day, of which, however, 
with Dr. , I say, I believe not a word. 

The ark being safe landed, it is reasonable to be- 
lieve Noah prepared to go on shore, as the seamen call 
it, as soon as the dry land began to appear ; and here 
you must allow me to suppose Satan, though himself 
clothed with a cloud, so as not to be seen, came imme- 
diately, and perching on the roof, saw all the heaven- 
kept household safely landed, and all the host of living 
creatures dispersing themselves down the sides of the 
mountain, as the search of their food or other proper 
occasions directed them. 

This sight was enough ; Satan was at no loss to con- 
clude from hence that the design of God was to repeo- 
ple the world, by the way of ordinary generation, from 
the posterity of these eight persons, without creating 
any new species. 

Very well, says the Devil, then my advantage over 
them, by the snare I laid for poor Eve, is good still ; 
and I am now just where I was after Adam's expulsion 
from the garden, and when I had Cain and his race to 
go to work with, for here is the old expunged cor- 
rupted race still ; as Cain was the object then, so Noah 
is my man now, and if I do not master him one way or 
another, I am mistaken in my mark. Pardon me for 
making a speech for the Devil. 

Noah, big with a sense of his late condition, and 
while the wonders of the Deluge were fresh in his mind, 
spent his first days in the ecstacies of his soul, giving 
thanks, and praising the power that had been his pro- 
tection in and through the flood of waters, and which 



122 THE POLITICAL 

had in so miraculous a manner safely landed him on 
the surface of the newly-discovered land ; and the text 
tells us, as one of the first things he was employed in, 
He built an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt- 
offerings upon the altar. Gen. viii. 20. 

While Noah was thus employed he was safe, the 
Devil himself could nowhere break in upon him ; and 
we may suppose very reasonably, as he found the old 
father invulnerable, he left him for some years, watch- 
ing, notwithstanding, all possible advantages against his 
sons and their children ; for now the family began to 
increase, and Noah's sons had several children ; 
whether himself had any more children after the Flood 
or not, that we are not arrived to any certainty about. 

Among his sons, the Devil found Japhet and Shem, 
good, pious, religious, and very devout persons ; serv- 
ing God daily, after the example of their good old 
father Noah, and he could make nothing of them, or 
of any of their posterity ; but Ham the second, or, 
according to some, the younger son of Noah, had a son 
who was named Canaan, a loose, young, profligate fel- 
low ; his education was probably but cursory and super- 
ficial, his father Ham being not near so religious and 
serious a man as his brothers Shem and Japhet were ; 
and as Canaan's education was defective, so he proved, 
as untaught youth generally do, a wild, and, in short, a 
very wicked fellow, and consequently a fit tool for the 
Devil to go to work with. 

Noah, a diligent industrious man, being, with all his 
family, thus planted in the rich fruitful plains of Ar- 
menia, or wherever you please, let it be near the 
mountains of Caucasus or Arrarat ; went immediately 
to work, cultivating and improving the soil, increasing 
his cattle and pastures, sowing corn, and, among other 
things, planting trees for food ; and among the fruit- 
trees he planted vines, of the grapes whereof he made, 
no doubt, as they still in the same country do make, 
most excellent wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 123 

I cannot come into the notion of our critics, who to 
excuse Noah from the guilt of what followed, or at 
least from the censure, tell us he knew not the 
strength or the nature of wine, but that gathering the 
heavy clusters of the grapes, and their own weight 
crushing out their balmy juices into his hand, he tasted 
the tempting liquor, and that, the Devil assisting, he 
was charmed with the delicious fragrance, and tasted 
again and again ; pressing it out into a bowl or dish ; 
that he might take a larger quantity, till at length the 
heady froth ascended, and seizing his brain he became 
intoxicate and drunk, not in the least imagining there 
was any such strength in the juice of that excellent 
fruit. 

But to make out this story, which is, indeed, very 
favourable for Noah, but in itself extremely ridiculous, 
you must necessarily fall into some absurdities, and 
beg the question most egregiously in some particular 
cases, which way of arguing will by no means support 
what is suggested ; at first you must suppose there was 
no such thing as wine made before the Deluge, and 
that nobody had been ever made drunk with the juice 
of the grape before Noah, which, I say, is begging the 
question in the grossest manner. 

If the contrary is true, as I see no reason to ques- 
tion, if, I say, it was true that there was wine drank, 
and that men were or had been drunk with it before, 
they cannot then but suppose that Noah, who was a 
wise, a great, and a good man, and a preacher of 
righteousness, both knew of it, and without doubt had, 
in his preaching against their crimes, preached against 
this among the rest ; upbraided them with it, reproved 
them for it, and exhorted them against it. 

Again ; it is highly probable they had grapes grow- 
ing, and consequently wines made from them, in the 
antediluvian world ; how else did Noah come by the 
vines which he planted ? For we are to suppose, he 
could plant no trees or shrubs, but such as he found 



124 THE POLITICAL 

the roots of in the earth, and which no doubt had been 
there before in their highest perfection, and had conse- 
quently grown up and brought forth the same luscious 
fruit before. 

Besides, as he found the roots of the vines, so he 
understood what they were, and what fruit they bore, 
or else it may be supposed also he would not have 
planted them ; for he planted them for their fruit, as 
he did it in the provision he was making for his sub- 
sistence, and the subsistence of his family ; and if he 
did not know what they were, he would not have set 
them, for he was not planting for diversion, but for 
profit. 

Upon the whole, it seems plain to me he knew what 
he did, as well when he planted the vines as when he 
pressed out the grapes ; and also, when he drank the 
juice, that he knew it was wine, was strong, and would 
make him drunk if he took enough of it : he knew 
that other men had been drunk with such liquor be- 
fore the Flood, and that he had reprehended them for 
it ; and therefore it was not his ignorance, but the 
Devil took him at some advantage, when his appetite 
was eager, or he thirsty, and the liquor cooling and 
pleasant ; and, in short, as Eve said, The serpent be- 
guiled her, and she did eat, so the Devil beguiled Noah 
and he did drink ; the temptation was too strong for 
Noah, not the wine ; he knew well enough what he 
did, but as the drunkards say to this day, it was so 
good he could not forbear it, and so he got drunk be- 
fore he was aware ; or, as our ordinary speech expresses 
it, he was overtaken with drink ; and Mr. Pool and 
other expositors are partly of the same mind. 

No sooner was the poor old man conquered, and the 
wine had lightened his head, but it may be supposed 
he falls off from the chair or bench where he sat, and 
tumbling backwards, his clothes, which in those hot 
countries were only loose open robes, like the vests 
which the Armenians wear to this day, flying abroad, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 125 

or the Devil so assisting on purpose to expose him, he 
lay there in a naked indecent posture, not fit to be 
seen. 

In this juncture, who should come by but young 
Canaan, say some ; or as others think, this young 
fellow first attacked him by way of kindness and pre- 
tended affection ; prompted his grandfather to drink, 
on pretence of the wine being good for him, and 
proper for the support of his old age, and subtilly set 
upon him, drinking also with him, and so (his head 
being too strong for the old man's) drank him down, 
and then, Devil like, triumphed over him ; boasted of 
his conquest, insulted the body as it were dead, un- 
covered him on purpose to expose him; and, leaving 
him in that indecent posture, went and made sport 
with it to his father Ham, who in that part, wicked 
like himself, did the same to his brethren Japhet and 
Shem ; but they like modest and good men, far from 
carrying on the wicked insult on their parent, went 
and covered him, as the Scripture expresses it, and, as 
may be supposed, informed him how he had been 
abused, and by who. 

Why else should Noah, when he came to himself, 
shew his resentment so much against Canaan his 
grandson, rather than against Ham his father, and 
who it is supposed in the story, the guilt chiefly lay 
upon? we see the curse is, as it were, laid wholly 
upon Canaan the grandson, and not a word of the 
father is mentioned, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, Cursed be 
Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be, fyc. 

That Ham was guilty, that is certain from the history 
of fact, but I cannot but suppose his grandson was the 
occasion of it ; and in this case the Devil seems to have 
made Canaan the instrument or tool to delude Noah, 
and draw him into drunkenness, as he made the 
serpent the tool to beguile Eve, and draw her into dis- 
obedience. 

Possibly Canaan might do it without design at first, 



126 THE POLITICAL 

bat might be brought in to ridicule and make a jest of 
the old patriarch afterwards, as is too frequent since in 
the practice of our days ; but I rather believe he did 
it really with a wicked design, and on purpose to ex- 
pose and insult his reverend old parent ; and this 
seems more likely too, because of the great bitterness 
with which Noah resented it, after he came to be in- 
formed of it. 

But be that as it will, the Devil certainly made a 
great conquest here, and as to outward appearance, no 
less than that which he gained before over Adam ; nor 
did the Devil's victory consist barely in his having 
drawn in the only righteous man of the whole antedi- 
luvian world, and so beginning or initiating the new 
young progeny with a crime ; but here was the great 
oracle silenced at once ; the preacher of righteousness, 
for such no doubt he would have been to the new 
world, as he was to the old, I say, the preacher was 
turned out of office, or his mouth stopped, which was 
worse , nay, it was a stopping of his mouth in the 
worst kind, far worse than stopping his breath, for had 
he died, the office had descended to his sons, Shem 
and Japhet, but he was dead to the office of an instruc- 
tor, though alive as to his being ; for of what force 
could his preachings be, who had thus fallen himself 
into the most shameful and beastly excess ? 

Besides, some are of the opinion, though I hope 
without ground, that Noah was not only overtaken 
once in his drink, but that being fallen into that sin it 
became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, 
and that it was this which is the meaning of his being 
uncovered in his tent, and that his son saw his naked- 
ness ; that is, he continually exposed himself for a long 
time, a hundred years, say they, and that his son Ham, 
and his grandson Canaan, having drawn him into it, 
kept him in it, encouraged and prompted it, and all 
the while Satan still prompting them, joined their 
scoffs and contempt of him, with their wicked endea- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 127 

vours to promote the wickedness ; and both with as 
much success as the Devil himself could wish for. 

Then, as for his two sons modestly and decently 
covering their father, they tell us that represents 
Shem and Japhet applying themselves in an humble 
and dutiful manner to their father, to entreat and be- 
seech him to consider his ancient glory, his own pious 
exhortations to the late drowned world, and to consi- 
der the offence which he gave by his evil courses to 
God, and the scandal to his whole family, and also 
that they are brought in effectually prevailing upon 
him ; and that then Noah cursed the wickedness of 
Ham's degenerate race, in testimony of his sincere re- 
pentance after the fact. 

The story is not so very unlikely, as it is certain 
that it is not to be proved, and therefore we had better 
take it as we find it, viz. for one single act ; but sup- 
pose it was so, it is still certain that Noah's preaching 
was sadly interrupted, the energy of his words scattered, 
and the force of his persuasions enervated and abated, 
by this shameful fall ; that he was effectually silenced 
for an instructor ever after, and this was as much as 
the Devil had occasion for ; and therefore indeed we 
read little more of him, except that he lived three 
hundred and fifty years after the Flood ; nay, we do 
not so much as read that he had any more children, 
but the contrary, nor indeed could Noah have any 
more children, except by his old and perhaps super- 
annuated wife, who it was very likely he had had four 
or five hundred years, unless you will suppose he was 
allowed to marry some of his own progeny, daughters, 
or granddaughters, which we do not suppose was allowed, 
no, not to Adam himself. 

This was certainly a masterpiece of the Devil's 
policy, and a fatal instance of his unhappy diligence; 
viz. that the door of the ark was no sooner open, and 
the face of the world hardly dry from the universal de- 
struction of mankind, but he was at work among them ; 



128 THE POLITICAL 

and that not only to form a general defection among 
the race, upon the foot of the original taint of nature, 
but like a bold devil, he strikes at the very root, and 
flies at the next general representative of mankind, 
attacks the head of the family, that in his miscarriage 
the rise and progress of a reformation of the new world 
should receive an early check, and should be at once 
prevented ; I say, like a bold devil, he strikes at the 
root, and, alas! poor unhappy Noah, he proved too 
weak for him, Satan prevailed in his very first attempt, 
and got the victory over him at once. 

Noah, thus overcome, and Satan's conquest carried 
on to the utmost of his own wishes, the Devil had little 
more to do in the world for some ages, than to carry 
on an universal degeneracy among mankind, and to 
finish it by a like diligent application, in deluding the 
generality of the race, and them as they came on 
gradually into life ; this he found the less difficult, be- 
cause of the first defection, which spread like a conta- 
gion upon the earth immediately after. 

The first evidence we have of his success in this mis- 
chievous design, was in the building that great stupen- 
duous staircase, for such it seems it was intended, 
called Babel, which if the whole world had not been 
drunk, or otherwise infatuated, they would never have 
undertaken ; even Satan himself could never have pre- 
vailed with them to undertake such a preposterous 
piece of work, for it had neither end or means, possi- 
bility or probability in it. 

I must confess I am sometimes apt to vindicate our 
old ancestors in my thoughts, from the charge itself, 
as we generally understand it, namely, that they really 
designed to build a tower which should reach up to 
heaven, or that it should secure them in case of another 
flood ; and Father Casaubon is of my opinion, whether 
I am of his or no, is a question by itself ; his opinion is, 
that the confusion was nothing but a breach among the 
undertakers and directors of the work, and that the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 129 

building was designed chiefly for a storehouse for pro- 
visions, in case of a second Deluge ; as to their notion 
of its reaching up to heaven, he takes the expression 
to be allegorical rather than litteral, and only to mean 
that it should be exceeding high ; perhaps they might 
not be astronomers enough to measure the distance of 
space between the earth and heaven, as we pretend to 
do now : but as Noah was then alive, and as we be- 
lieve all his three sons were so too, they were able to 
have informed them how absurd it was to suppose 
either the one or the other, viz. 1. that they could 
build up to heaven; or, 2. that they could build firm 
enough to resist, or high enough to overtop the waters, 
supposing such another flood should happen. I would 
rather think it was only that they intended to build a 
most glorious and magnificent city, where they might 
all inhabit together ; and that this tower was to be 
built for ornament and also for strength, or, as above, 
and for a storehouse to lay up vast magazines of pro- 
visions, in case of extraordinary floods or other events, 
the city being built in a great plain, namely, the plains 
of Shinnar near the river Euphrates. 

But the story, as it is recorded, suits better with 
Satan's measures at that time ; and as he was from the 
beginning prompting them to everything that was con- 
trary to the happiness of man, so the more prepos- 
terous it was, and the more inconsistent with common 
sense, the more to his purpose ; and it showed the 
more what a complete conquest he had gained over the 
reason as well as the religion of mankind at that time. 

Again ; it is evident in this case, they were not only 
acting contrary to the nature of things, but contrary to 
the design and to the command of heaven ; for God's 
command was that they should replenish the earth, 
that is, that they should spread their habitations over 
it, and people the whole globe ; whereas they were 
pitching in one place, as if they were not to multiply 
sufficient to take up any more. 

H. D. K 



130 THE POLITICAL 

But what cared the Devil for that ; or, to put it a little 
handsomer, that was what Satan aimed at ; for it was 
enough to him to bring mankind to act just contrary 
to what heaven had directed or commanded them in 
anything, and if possible in everything. 

But God himself put a stop to this foolish piece of 
work, and it was time indeed to do so, for a madder 
thing the Devil himself never proposed to them ; I say, 
God himself put a stop to this new undertaking, and 
disappointed the Devil ; and how was it done ? not in 
judgment and anger, as perhaps the Devil expected 
and hoped for, but, as pitying the simplicity of that 
dreaming creature man, he confused their speech, or 
as some say, divided and confused their councils, so 
that they could not agree with one another, which 
would be the same thing as not to understand one 
another ; or he put a new Shibboleth upon their 
tongues, thereby separating them into tribes or fa- 
milies, for, by this, every family found themselves 
under a necessity of keeping together, and this na- 
turally increased that differing jargons of language, 
for at first it might be no more. 

What a confusion this was to them we all know, by 
their being obliged to leave off their building, and 
immediately separating one from another ; but what a 
surprise it was to the old serpent, that remains to be 
considered of, for indeed it belongs to his history. 

Satan had never met with any disappointment in all 
his wicked attempts till now; for first, he succeeded 
even to triumph upon Eve, he did the like upon Cain, 
and, in short, upon the whole world, one man (Noah) 
excepted, when he blended the sons of God and the 
daughters of hell, for so the word is understood, together, 
in promiscuous voluptuous living as well as generation. 

As to the Deluge, authors are not agreed whether it 
was a disappointment to the Devil or no, it might be 
indeed a surprise to him, for though Noah had preached 
of it for a hundred years together, yet as he (Satan) 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 131 

daily prompted the people not to heed or believe what 
that old fellow Noah said to them, and to ridicule his 
whimsical building a monstrous tub to swim or float 
in, when the said Deluge should come, so I am of the 
opinion he did not believe it himself, and am positive 
he could not foresee it, by any insight into futurity 
that he was master of. 

It is true, the astronomers tell us, there was a very 
terrible comet seen in the air, that it appeared for one 
hundred and eighty days before the Flood continually, 
and that as it approached nearer and nearer every day 
all the while, so that at last it burst and fell down in a 
continual spout or stream of water, being of a watery 
substance, and the quantity so great that it was forty 
days a falling ; so that this comet not only foretold the 
Deluge or drowning of the earth, but actually performed 
it, and drowned it from itself. 

But, to leave this tale to them that told it, let us. 
consider the Devil, surprised, and a little amazed, at 
the absorption or inundation, or whatever we are to 
call it, of the earth in the Deluge; not, I say, that he 
was much concerned at it, perhaps just the contrary ; 
and if God would drown it again, and as often as he 
thought fit, I do not see, by anything I meet with in 
Satan's history, or in the nature of him, that he would 
be at all disturbed at it ; all that I can see in it, that 
could give Satan any concern, would be that all his 
favourites were gone, and he had his work to do over 
again, to lay a foundation for a new conquest in the ge- 
neration that was to come; but in this his prospect was 
fair enough, for why should he be discouraged, when 
he had now eight people to work upon, who met with 
such success when he had but two ? and why should he 
question breaking in now where nature was already 
vitiated and corrupted, when he had before conquered 
the same nature when in its primitive rectitude and 
purity, just come out of the hands of its Maker, and 
fortified with the awe of his high and solemn command 

k2 



132 THE POLITICAL 

just given them, and the threatening of death also an- 
nexed to it if broken ? 

But I go back to the affair of Babel : this confusion 
of language or of councils, take it which way you will, 
was the first disappointment that I find the Devil met 
with in all his attempts and practices upon mankind, 
or upon the new creation, which I mentioned above ; 
for now he foresaw what would follow ; namely, that 
the people would separate and spread themselves over 
the whole surface of the earth, and a thousand new 
scenes of action would appear, in which he therefore 
prepares himself to behave as he should see occasion. 

How the Devil learned to speak all the languages 
that were now to be used, and how many languages 
they were, the several ancient writers of the devil's 
story have not yet determined ; some tell us they were 
divided only into fifteen, some into seventy-two, others 
into one hundred -and-eighty, and others again into se- 
veral thousands. 

It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, 
will be so with others also, whether Satan has yet 
found out a method to converse with mankind without 
the help of language and words, or not; seeing man has 
no other medium of conversing, no not with himself: 
this I have not time to enter upon here ; however, this 
seems plain to me, viz. that the Devil soon learned to 
make mankind understand him, whatever language he 
spoke, and no doubt but he found ways and means to 
understand them, whatever language they spoke. 

After the confusion of languages, the people neces- 
sarily sorted themselves into families and tribes, every 
family understanding their own particular speech, and 
that only ; and these families multiplying grew into 
nations, and those nations wanting room, and seeking 
out habitations, wandered some this way, some that, till 
they found out countries respectively proper for their 
settling ; and there they became a kingdom, spreading 
and possessing still more and more land as their peo- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 133 

pie increased, till at last the whole earth was scarce 
big enough for them. This presented Satan with an 
opportunity to break in upon their morals at another 
door, viz. their pride ; for men being naturally proud 
and envious, nations and tribes began to jostle with 
one another for room ; either one nation enjoyed better 
accommodations, or had a better soil or a more favour- 
able climate than another ; and these being numerous 
and strong thrust the other out, and encroached upon 
their land ; the other liking their situation, prepare 
for their defence, and so began oppression, invasion, 
war, battle, and blood ; Satan all the while beatingt he 
drums, and his attendants clapping their hands, as men 
do when they set dogs on upon one another. 

The bringing mankind thus to war and confusion, 
as it was the first game the Devil played after the con- 
founding of languages and divisions at Babel, so it was 
a conquest upon mankind, purely devilish, born from 
hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan's original sin, 
ambition, that it really transformed men into mere 
devils ; for when is man transformed into the very 
image of Satan himself, when is he turned into a mere 
devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his fellow 
creatures, and dipping his hands in the blood of his 
own kind ? Let his picture be considered, — the fire of 
hell flames or sparkles in his eyes, a voracious grin sits 
upon his countenance, rage and fury distort the muscles 
of his face, his passions agitate his whole body, and he 
is metamorphosed from a comely beauteous angelic 
creature into a fury, a satyr, a terrible and frightful 
monster, nay, into a devil ; for Satan himself is de- 
scribed by the same word, which on his very account is 
changed into a substantive, and the devils are called 
Furies. 

This sowing the seeds of strife in the world, and 
bringing nations to fight and make war upon one 
another, would take up a great part of the Devil's 
history, and abundance of extraordinary things would 



134 THE POLITICAL 

occur in relating the particulars ; for there have been 
very great conflagrations kindled in the world, by the 
artifice of hell under this head, viz. of making war ; in 
which it has been the Devil's masterpiece, and he has 
indeed shown himself a workman in it, that he has 
wheedled mankind into strange unnatural notions of 
things, in order to propagate and support the fighting 
principle in the world ; such as laws of war, fair fight- 
ing, behaving like men of honour, fighting to the last 
drop, and the like, by which killing and murdering is 
understood to be justifiable. Virtue and a true great- 
ness of spirit is rated now by rules which God never 
appointed, and the standard of honour is quite dif- 
ferent from that of reason and of nature : bravery is 
denominated, not from a fearless undaunted spirit in 
the just defence of life and liberty, but from a daring 
defiance of God and man, fighting, killing, and treading 
under foot his fellow creatures, at the ordinary com- 
mand of the officer, whether it be right or wrong, and 
whether it be in a just defence of life, and our country's 
life, that is liberty, or whether it be for the support of 
injury and oppression. 

A prudent avoiding causeless quarrel is called 
cowardice, and to take an affront, baseness, and mean- 
ness of spirit ; to refuse fighting, and putting life at a 
cast on the point of a sword, a practice forbid by the 
laws of God and of all good government, is yet called 
cowardice ; and a man is bound to die duelling, or live 
and be laughed at. 

This trumping up these imaginary things called 
bravery and gallantry, naming them virtue and ho- 
nour, is all from the Devil's new management, and his 
subtle influencing the minds of men to fly in the face of 
God and nature, and to act against his senses ; nor but 
for his artifice in the management, could it be possible 
that such inconsistencies could go down with mankind, 
or they could pass such absurd things among them for 
reasoning ; for example, A is found in bed with B's 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 135 

wife, B. is the person injured, and therefore offended, 
and coming into the chamber with his sword in his 
hand, A. exclaims loudly, Why sir, you won't murder 
me, will you ? as you are a man of honour let me rise 
and take my sword. 

A very good story indeed! fit for nobody but the 
Devil to put into any man's head ; but so it is, B. being 
put in mind, forsooth, that he is a man of honour, 
starts back and must act the honourable part ; so he 
lets A. get up, put on his clothes and take his sword ; 
then they fight, and B. is killed for his honour ; whereas 
had the laws of God, of nature, and of reason, taken 
place, the adulterer and the adulteress should have 
been taken prisoners and carried before the judge, and 
being taken in the fact, should have been immediately 
sentenced, he to the block, and she to the stake, and 
the innocent abused husband had no reason to have 
run any risk of his life for being made a cuckold. 

But thus has Satan abused the reason of man, and 
if a man does me the greatest injury in the world, I 
must do myself justice upon him, by venturing my life 
upon an even lay with him, and must fight him upon 
equal hazard, in which the injured person is as often 
killed as the person offering the injury : suppose now 
it be in the same case as above, a man abuses my wife, 
and then, to give me satisfaction, tells me, he will fight 
me, which the French call doing me reason ; No, sir, 
say I, let me lie with your wife too, and then, if you 
desire it, I may fight you ; then I am upon even terms 
with you : but this indeed is the reasoning which the 
Devil has brought mankind too at this day. But to go 
back to the subject, viz. the Devil bringing the nations 
to fall out, and to quarrel for room in the world, and 
so to fight, in order to dispossess one another of their 
settlements. This began at a time when certainly 
there were places enough in the world for every one 
to choose in, and therefore the Devil, not the want of 
elbowroom, must be the occasion of it ; and it is car- 



1 36 THE POLITICAL 

ried on ever since, as apparently from the same in- 
terest, and by the same original. 

But we shall meet with this part again very often in 
the Devil's story, and as we bring him further on in 
the management of mankind ; I therefore lay it by for 
the present, and come to the next step the Devil took 
with mankind after the confusion of languages, and 
this was in the affair of worship. It does not appear 
yet that ever the Devil was so bold, as either, 

1 . To set himself up to be worshipped as a god ; or, 
which was still worse, 

2. To persuade men to believe there was no God at 
all to worship. 

Both these are introduced since the Deluge, one in- 
deed by the Devil, who soon found means to set him- 
self up for a god in many parts of the world, and holds 
it to this day ; but the last is brought in by the inven- 
tion of men, in which it must be confessed man has 
outsinned the Devil ; for to do Satan justice, he never 
thought it could ever pass upon mankind, or that any- 
thing so gross would go down with them ; so that, in 
short, these modern casuists, in the reach of our days, 
have, I say, outsinned the Devil. 

As then both these are modern inventions, Satan 
went on gradually, and being to work upon human 
nature by stratagem, not by force, it would have been 
too gross to have set himself up as an object of worship 
at first, it was to be done step by step ; for example : 

1. It was sufficient to bring mankind to a neglect of 
God, to worship him by halves, and give little or 
no regard to his laws, and so grow loose and im- 
moral, in direct contradiction to his commands ; 
this would not go down with them at first, so the 
Devil went on gradually. 

2. From a negligence in worshipping the true God, 
he by degrees introduced the worship of false 
gods ; and to introduce this, he began with the 
sun, moon, and stars, called, in the holy text, the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 137 

host of heaven ; these had a greater majesty upon 
them, and seemed fitter to command the homage 
of mankind ; so it was not the hardest thing in 
the world to bring men, when they had once for- 
gotten the true God, to embrace the worship of 
such gods as those. 
3. Having thus debauched their principles in wor- 
ship, and led them from the true and only object 
of worship, to a false, it was the easier to carry 
them on ; so, in a few gradations more, he brought 
them to downright idolatry, and even in that 
idolatry he proceeded gradually too ; for he began 
with awful names, such as were venerable in the 
thoughts of men, as Baal or Bell, which, in Chal- 
daic and Hebrew, signifies lord or sovereign, or 
mighty and magnificent, and this was therefore 
a name ascribed at first to the true God, but 
afterwards they descended to make images and 
figures to represent him, and then they were 
called by the same name as Baal, Baalim, and 
afterwards Bell, from which, by a hellish degene- 
racy, Satan brought mankind to adore every 
block of their own hewing, and to worshipping 
stocks, stones, monsters, hobgoblins, and every 
sordid frightful thing, and at last, the Devil 
himself. 
What notions some people may entertain of the for- 
wardness of the first ages of the world, to run into 
idolatry, I do not inquire here ; I know they tell us 
strange things, of its being the product of mere nature, 
one remove from its primitive state ; but I, who pre- 
tend to have so critically inquired into Satan's history, 
can assure you, and that from very good authority, 
that the Devil did not find it so easy a task, to oblite- 
rate the knowledge of the true God, in the minds and 
consciences of men, as those people suggest. 

It is true, he carried things a great length under the 
patriarchial government of the first ages, but still he 



1 38 THE POLITICAL 

was sixteen hundred years bringing it to pass ; and 
though we have reason to believe the old world, before 
the Flood, was arrived to a very great height of wicked- 
ness, and Ovid very nobly describes it by the war of 
the Titans against Jupiter, yet we do not read that 
ever Satan was come to such a length as to bring 
them to idolatry ; indeed we do read of wars carried 
on among them, whether it was one nation against 
another, or only personal, we cannot tell; but the 
world seemed to be swallowed up in a life of wicked- 
ness, that is to say, of luxury and lewdness, rapine and 
violence, and there were giants among them, and men 
of renown, that is to say, men famed for their mighty 
valour, great actions in war we may suppose, and their 
strength, who personally oppressed others. We read 
of no considerable wars, indeed, but it is not to be 
doubted there were such wars, or else it is to be un- 
derstood, that they lived, in common, a life somewhat 
like the brutes, the strong devouring the weak ; for 
the text says, the whole earth was filled tvith violence, 
hunting and tearing one another to pieces, either for 
dominion or for wealth, either for ambition or for 
avarice, we know not well which. 

Thus far the old antediluvian world went, and very 
wicked they were, there is no doubt of that ; but we 
have reason to believe there was no idolatry, the Devil 
had not brought them to that length yet ; perhaps it 
would soon have followed, but the Deluge intervened. 

After the Deluge, as I have said, he had all his work 
to do over again, and he went on by the same steps ; 
first he brought them to violence and war, then to 
oppression and tyranny, then to neglect of true wor- 
ship, then to false worship, and then idolatry by the 
mere natural consequence of the thing. Who were the 
first nation or people that fell from the worship of the 
true God, is something hard to determine ; the Devil, 
who certainly of all God's creatures is best able to in- 
form us, having left us nothing upon record upon that 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 139 

subject, but we have reason to believe it was thus in- 
troduced : — 

Nimrod was the grandson of Ham, Noah's second 
son, the same who was cursed by his father for ex- 
posing him in his drunkenness : this Nimrod was the 
first who it seems Satan picked out for a hero : here 
he inspired him with ambitious thoughts, dreams of 
empire, and having the government of all the rest, that 
is to say, universal monarchy ; the very same bait 
with which he has played upon the frailty of princes, 
and ensnared the greatest of them ever since, even 
from his most august imperial majesty, king Nimrod 
the First, to his most Christian majesty, Louis XIV., 
and many a mighty monarch between. 

When these mighty monarchs and men of fame went 
off the stage, the world had their memories in esteem 
many ages after; and as their great actions were no 
otherwise recorded than by oral tradition, and the 
tongues and memories of fallible men, time and the 
custom of magnifying the past actions of kings, men 
soon fabled up their histories, Satan assisting, into 
miracle and wonder : hence their names were had in 
veneration more and more ; statues and bustoes repre- 
senting their persons and great actions were set up in 
public places, till from heroes and champions they 
made gods of them, and thus, Satan prompting, the 
world was quickly filled with idols. 

This Nimrod is he who, according to the received 
opinion, though I do not find Satan's history exactly 
concurring with it, was first called Belus, then Baal, 
and worshipped in most of the eastern countries under 
those names ; sometimes with additions of surnames, 
according to the several countries, or people, or towns 
where he was particularly set up, as Baal Peor, Baal 
Zephon, Baal Phegor, and in other places plain Baal; 
as Jupiter, in aftertimes, had the like additions, as 
Jupiter Ammon, Jupiter Capitolinus, Jupiter Pistor, 



140 THE POLITICAL 

Jupiter Feretrius, and about ten or twelve Jupiters 
more. 

I must acknowledge, that I think it was a master- 
piece of hell to bring the world to idolatry so soon 
after they had had such an eminent example of the in- 
finite power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge ; 
and particularly in the escape of Noah in the ark, to 
bring them (even before Noah or his sons were dead) 
to forget whose hand it was, and give the homage of 
the world to a name, and that a name of a mortal man, 
dead and rotten, who was famous for nothing when he 
was alive but blood and war ; I say, to bring the 
world to set up this nothing, this mere name, nay, the 
very image and picture of him, for a god, it was first a 
mark of most prodigious stupidity in the whole race of 
man, a monstrous degeneracy from nature, and even 
from common sense ; and, in the next place, it was a 
token of an inexpressive craft and subtilty in the 
Devil, who had now gotten the people into so full and 
complete a management, that, in short, he could have 
brought them, by the same rule, to have worshipped 
anything ; and in a little while more, did bring many 
of them to worship himself, plain devil as he was, and 
knowing him to be such. 

As to the antiquity of this horrible defection of 
mankind, though we do not find the beginning of it 
particularly recorded, yet we are certain it was not 
long after the confusion of Babel ; for Nimrod, as is 
said, was no more than Noah's great grandson, and 
Noah himself, I suppose, might be alive some years 
after Nimrod was born ; and as Nimrod was not long 
dead before they forgot that he was a tyrant and a 
murderer, and made a Baal, that is a lord or idol, of 
him; I say, he was not long dead, for Nimrod was 
born in the year of the world 1847, and built Babylon, 
the year 1879; and we find Terah, the father of 
Abram, who lived from the year 1879, was an idolater, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVLL. 141 

as was doubtless Bethuel, who was Terah's grandson ; 
for we find Laban, who was Bethuel's son, was so, and 
all this was during the life of the first post-diluvian 
family, for Terah was born within one hundred and 
ninety-three years after the Flood, and one hundred 
and fifty-seven years before Noah was dead ; and 
even Abram himself was eight-and-fifty years old 
before Noah died, and yet idolatry had been then, in 
all probability, above a hundred years practised in 
the world. 

N. B. It is worth remark here, what a terrible ad- 
vantage the Devil gained by the debauching poor 
Noah, and drawing him into the sin of drunken- 
ness ; for by this, as I said, he silenced and 
stopped the mouth of the great preacher of right- 
eousness, that father and patriarch of the whole 
world, who not being able, for the shame of his 
own foul miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or re- 
prove the world any more, the Devil took hold of 
them immediately, and for want of a prophet to 
warn and admonish, run that little of religion 
which there might be left in Shem and Japhet, 
quite out of the world, and deluged them all in 
idolatry. 

How long the whole world may be said to be thus 
overwhelmed in ignorance and idolatry, we may make 
some tolerable guess at by the history of Abraham ; 
for it was not till God called him from his father's 
house, that any such thing as a church was established 
in the world ; nor even then, except in his own family 
and successors, for almost four hundred years after 
that call ; and till God brought the Israelites back out 
of Egypt, the whole world may be said to be involved 
in idolatry and Devil worship. 

So absolute a conquest had the Devil made over 
mankind immediately after the Flood, and all taking 



142 THE POLITICAL 

its rise and beginning at the fatal defeat of Noah, who 
had he lived untainted and invulnerable, as he had 
done for six hundred years before, would have gone a 
great way to have stemmed the torrent of wickedness 
which broke in upon mankind ; and therefore the 
Devil, I say, was very cunning, and very much in the 
right of it, take him as he is a mere devil, to attack 
Noah personally, and give him a blow so soon. 

It is true, the Devil did not immediately rase out 
the notion of religion, and of a God, from the minds of 
men, nor could he easily suppress the principle of 
worship and homage to be paid to a sovereign being, 
the author of nature and guide of the world ; the 
Devil saw this clearly in the first ages of the new 
world, and therefore, as I have said, he proceeded 
politically and by degrees. That it was so, is evident 
from the story of Job and his three friends, who, if we 
may take it for a history, not a fable, and may judge 
of the time of it by the length of Job's life, and by the 
family of Eliphaz the Temanite, who, it is manifest, was 
at least grandson or great grandson to Esau, Isaac's 
eldest son, and by the language of Abimelech, king of 
Gerar, to Abraham, and of Laban to Jacob, both the 
latter being at the same time idolaters ; I say, if we 
may judge of it by all these, there were still very 
sound notions of religion in the minds of men ; nor 
could Satan with all his cunning and policy deface 
those ideas, and root them out of the minds of the 
people. 

And this put him upon taking new measures to keep 
up his interest and preserve the hold he got upon man- 
kind ; and his method was, like himself, subtle and po- 
litic to the last degree, as his whole history makes ap- 
pear ; for seeing he found they could not but believe 
the being of a God, and that they would needs worship 
something, it is evident he had no game left him to 
play but this, namely, to set up wrong notions of wor- 
ship, and bring them to a false worship instead of a 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 143 

true, supposing the object worshipped to be still the 
same. 

To finish this stratagem, he first insinuates that the 
true God was a terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable 
being ; that to see him was so frightful, that it would 
be present death; that to worship him immediately, 
was a presumption which would provoke his wrath; 
and that as he was a consuming fire in himself, so he 
would burn up those in his anger that dared to offer 
up any sacrifice to him, but by the interposition of 
some medium which might receive their adorations in 
his name. 

Hence it occurred presently, that subordinate gods 
were to be found out and set up, to whom the people 
might pay the homage due to the supreme God, and 
who they might worship in his name ; this I take from 
the most ancient account of idolatry in the world ; 
nor indeed could the Devil himself find out any other 
reason why men should canonize, or rather deify, their 
princes and men of fame, and worship them after they 
were dead, as if they could save them from death and 
calamity, who were not able to save themselves when 
they were alive ; much less could Satan bring men to 
swallow so gross, so absurd a thing, as the bowing the 
knee to a stock or a stone, a calf, an ox, a lion, nay, the 
image or figure of a calf, such as the Israelites made at 
mount Sinai, and say These be thy gods, Israel, who 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 

Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy them- 
selves that they worshipped the true God and no 
other, under the figures and appearances which they 
made to represent him, it was easy after that to wor- 
ship anything for the true God ; and thus in a few 
ages they worshipped nothing but idols, even through- 
out the whole world ; nor has the Devil lost this hold 
in some parts of the world, nay, not in most parts of 
the world to this day ; he holds still all the eastern 
parts of Asia, and the southern parts of Africa, and 



144 THE POLITICAL 

the northern parts of Europe, and in them the vast coun- 
tries of China and Tartary, Persia and India, Guinea, 
Ethiopia, Zanquebar, Congo, Angola, Monomotapa, 
&c, in all which, except Ethiopia, we find no vestiges 
of any other worship but that of idols, monsters, and 
even the Devil himself; till after the very coming of 
our Saviour, and even then, if it be true, that the 
Gospel was preached in the Indies and China by St. 
Thomas, and in other remote countries by other of the 
apostles ; we see that whatever ground Satan lost, he 
seems to have recovered it again ; and all Asia and 
Africa is at present overrun with Paganism or Maho- 
metanism, which I think of the two is rather the 
worst ; besides all America, a part of the world, as 
some say, equal in bigness to all the other, in which 
the Devil's kingdom was never interrupted from its 
first being inhabited, whenever it was, to the first dis- 
covery of it by the European nations in the sixteenth 
century. 

In a word, the Devil got what we may call an entire 
victory over mankind, and drove the worship of the 
true God, in a manner, quite out of the world, forcing, 
as it were, his Maker in a new kind of creation, the 
old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain 
number by force and mere omnipotence to return to 
their duty, serve him and worship him ; but of that 
hereafter. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 145 



CHAP. XL 

Of God's calling a church out of the midst of a de- 
generate world, and of Satan's neiv measures upon 
that incident: how he attached them immediately, 
and his success in those attacks, 

Satan having, as I have said in the preceding chap- 
ter, made, as it were, a full conquest of mankind, de- 
bauched them all to idolatry, and brought them at 
least to worshipping the true God by the wretched 
medium of corrupt and idolatrous representations ; 
God seemed to have no true servants or worshippers 
left in the world, but, if I may be allowed to speak so, 
was obliged, in order to restore the world to their 
senses again, to call a select number out from among 
the rest, who he himself undertook should own his 
godhead or supreme authority, and worship him as he 
required to be worshipped ; this, I say, God was obliged 
to do, because it is evident it has not been done so 
much by the choice and council of men, for Satan 
would have overruled that part, as by the power and 
energy of some irresistible and invincible operation, 
and this our divines give high names to ; but be it 
what they will, it is the second defeat or disappoint- 
ment that the Devil has met with in his progress in 
the world ; the first I have spoken of already. 

It is true, Satan very well understood what was 
threatened to him in the original promise to the 
woman, immediately after the fall, namely, Thou shall 
bruise his head, Sfc, but he did not expect it so sud- 
denly, but thought himself sure of mankind, till the 
fulness of time when the Messiah should come ; and 
therefore it was a great surprise to him to see that 

H. D. L 



146 THE POLITICAL 

Abraham, being called, was so immediately received 
and established, though he did not so immediately 
follow the voice that directed him ; yet in him, in his 
loins, was all God's church at that time contained. 

In the calling Abraham, it is easy to see that there 
was no other way for God to form a Church, that is to 
say, to single out a people to himself, as the world was 
then stated, but by immediate revolution and voice 
from heaven. All mankind were gone over to the 
enemy, overwhelmed in idolatry, in a word, were en- 
gaged to the Devil ; God Almighty, or, as the Scripture 
distinguishes him, the Lord, the true God, was out of 
the question ; mankind knew little or nothing of him, 
much less did they know anything of his worship, or 
that there was such a being in the world. 

Well might it be said the Lord appeared to Abraham, 
Gen. xii. 7, for if God had not appeared himself, he 
must have sent a messenger from heaven, and perhaps 
it was so too, for he had not one true servant or wor- 
shipper that we know of, then on earth, to send on that 
errand ; no prophet, no preacher of righteousness ; 
Noah was dead, and had been so above seventeen 
years ; and if he had not, his preaching, as I observed 
after his great miscarriage, had but little effect ; we 
are indeed told, that Noah left behind him certain 
rules and orders for the true worship of God, which 
were called the Precepts of Noah, and remained in the 
world for a long time ; though, how written, when 
neither any letters, much less writing, were known 
in the world, is a difficulty which remains to be solved ; 
and this makes me look upon those laws, called the 
Precepts of Noah, to be a modern invention, as I do 
also the Alphabetum Noach% which Bochart pretends 
to give an account of. 

But to leave that fiction, and come back to 
Abraham ; God called him, whether at first by voice, 
without any vision ; whether in a dream or night vision, 
which was very significant in those days ; or whether 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 147 

by some awful appearance, we know not ; the second 
time, it is indeed said expressly, God appeared to him ; 
be it which way it will, God himself called him, showed 
him the land of Canaan, gave him the promise of it for 
his posterity, and, withal, gave him such a faith, that 
the Devil soon found there was no room for him to 
meddle with Abraham. This is certain, we do not 
read that the Devil ever so much as attempted Abraham 
at all ; some will suggest that the command to Abraham, 
to go and offer up his son Isaac, was a temptation of 
the Devil, if possible, to defeat the glorious work of God's 
calling a holy seed into the world ; for the first, if 
Abraham had disobeyed that call, the new favourite 
had been overcome and made a rebel of, or secondly, 
if he had obeyed, then the promised seed had been cut 
off, and Abraham defeated ; but as the text is express 
that God himself proposed it to Abraham, I shall not 
start the suggestions of the critics in bar of the sacred 
oracle. 

Be it one way or other, Abraham showed a hero- 
like faith and courage, and if the Devil had been the 
author of it, he had seen himself disappointed in both 
his views; 1. by Abraham's ready and bold com- 
pliance, as believing it to be God's command ; and, 2. 
by the divine countermand of the execution, just as the 
fatal knife was lifted up. 

But if the Devil left Abraham, and made no attack 
upon him, seeing him invulnerable, he made himself 
amends upon the other branch of his family, his poor 
nephew Lot ; who, notwithstanding he was so imme- 
diately under the particular care of heaven, as that the 
angel who was sent to destroy Sodom could do nothing 
till he was out of it ; and who, though after he had left 
Zoar, and was retired into a cave to dwell, yet the 
subtle Devil found him out, deluded his two daughters, 
took an advantage of the fright they had been in about 
Sodom and Gomorrah, made them believe the whole 
world was burnt too, as well as those cities, and that, in 

l2 



148 THE POLITICAL 

short, they could never have any husbands, &c, and so 
in their abundant concern to repeople the world, and 
that the race of mankind might not be destroyed, they 
go and lie with their own father ; the Devil telling them 
doubtless how to do it, by intoxicating his head with 
wine ; in all which story, whether they were not as 
drunk as their father, seems to be a question, or else 
they could not have supposed all the men in the earth 
were consumed, when they knew that the little city 
Zoar had been preserved for their sakes. 

This now was the third conquest Satan obtained by 
the gust of human appetite ; that is to say, once by 
eating and twice by drinking, or drunkenness, and still 
the last was the worst and most shameful ; for Lot, 
however his daughters managed him, could not pretend 
he did not understand what the strength of wine was ; 
and one would have thought after so terrible a judgment 
as that of Sodom was, which was, as we may say, 
executed before his face, his thoughts should have been 
too solemnly engaged in praising God for sparing his 
life, to be made drunk, and that two nights together. 

But the Devil played his game sure, he set his two 
daughters to work, and as the Devil's instruments 
seldom fail, so he secured his by that hellish stratagem 
of deluding the daughters to think all the world was 
consumed but they two and their father : to be sure 
the old man could not suspect that his daughters' design 
was so wicked as indeed it was, or that they intended 
to debauch him with wine, and make him drink till he 
knew not what he did. 

Now the Devil, having carried his game here, gained 
a great point ; for as there were but two religious 
families in the world before, from whence a twofold 
generation might be supposed to rise, religious and 
righteous like their parents, viz. that of Abraham 
and this of Lot ; this crime ruined the hopes of one of 
them ; it could no more be said that just Lot was in 
being, who vexed his righteous soul from day to day 



HISTORY OF THE DEVUL. 249 

with the wicked behaviour of the people of Sodom ; 
righteous Lot was degenerated into drunken incestuous 
Lot; Lot, fallen from what he was, to be a wicked and 
unrighteous man ; no pattern of virtue, no reprover of 
the age, but a poor fallen degenerate patriarch, who 
could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down 
and be ashamed, and had nothing to do but to repent ; 
and see the poor mean excuses of all the three : 

Eve says, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 

Noah says, My grandson beguiled me, or the icine 
beguiled me, and I did drink. 

Lot says, My daughters beguiled me, and I also did 
drink. 

It is observable, that, as I said above, Noah was 
silenced, and his preaching at an end, after that 
one action, so the like may be said of Lot ; and, in short, 
you never hear one word more of either of them after 
it ; as for mankind, both were useless to them, and as 
to themselves, we never read of any of their repentance, 
nor have we much reason to believe they did repent. 

From this attack of the Devil upon Lot, we hear no 
more of the Devil being so busily employed as he had 
been before in the world ; he had indeed but little to 
do, for all the rest of the world was his own, lulled 
asleep under the witchcraft of idolatry, and are so still. 

But it could not be long that the Devil lay idle ; as 
soon as God called himself a people, the Devil could 
not be at rest tell he attacked them. 

Wherever God sets up a house of prayer, 
The Devil always builds a chapel there. 

Abraham indeed went off the stage free, and so did 
Isaac too, they were a kind of first-rate saints ; we do 
not so much as read of any failing they had, or of any- 
thing the Devil had ever the face to offer to them ; no, 
or with Jacob either, if you will excuse him for be- 
guiling his brother Esau, of both his birthright and his 



150 THE POLITICAL 

blessing, but he was busy enough with all his children ; 
for example, — 

He sent Judah to his sheep-shearing, and placed a 
whore (Tamar) in his way, in the posture of temp- 
tation, so made him commit incest and whoredom 
both together. 
He sent incestuous Reuben to lie with his father's 

concubine, Billah. 
He sent Dinah to the ball, to dance with the 
Sichemite ladies, and play the whore with their 
master. 
He enraged Simeon and Levi, at the supposed in- 
jury, and then prompted them to revenge, for 
which their father heartily cursed them. 
He sent them altogether to fall upon poor Joseph, 
first to murder him intentionally, and then ac- 
tually sell him to the Midianites. 
He made them show the party-coloured coat and 
tell a lie to their father, to make the poor old man 
believe Joseph was killed by a lion, &c. 
He sent Potiphar's wife to attack Joseph's chastity, 

and filled her with rage at the disappointment. 
He taught Joseph to swear by the life of Pharaoh. 
In a word, he debauched the whole race, except 
Benjamin, and never man had such a set of sons, so 
wicked and so notorious, after so good an introduction 
into the world as they all of them had, to be sure ; for 
Jacob, no doubt, gave them as good instruction as the 
circumstances of his wandering condition would allow 
him to do. 

We must now consider the Devil and his affairs in 
a quite differing situation : when the world first ap- 
peared, peopled by the creating power of God, he had 
only Adam and Eve to take care of, and I think he 
plied his time with them to purpose enough : after the 
Deluge he had Noah only to pitch upon, and he quickly 
conquered him by the instigation of his grandson. 
At the building of Babel, he guided them by their 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 151 

acting all in a body as one man, so that in short, he 
managed them with ease, taking them as a body politic, 
and we find they came into his snare as one man ; but 
now, the children of Israel multiplying in the land of 
their bondage, and God seeming to show a particular 
concern for them, the Devil was obliged to new mea- 
sures, stand at a distance, and look on for some time. 

The Egyptians were plagued even without his help, 
nor though the cunning artist, as I said, stood and 
looked on, yet he durst not meddle ; nor could he 
make a few lice, the least and meanest of the armies 
of insects raised to afflict the Egyptians. 

However, when he perceived that God resolved to 
bring the Israelites out, he prepared to attend them, 
to watch them, and be at hand upon all the wicked 
occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully 
satisfied such occasions would offer, and that he should 
not fail to have an opportunity to draw them into some 
snare or another, and that therefore it was his business 
not to be out of the way, but to be ready, as we say? 
to make his market of them in the best manner he 
could : how many ways he attempted them, nay, how 
many times he conquered them in their journey, we 
shall see presently. 

First, he put them in a fright at Baal-Zephon, where 
he thought he had drawn them into a noose, and where 
he sent Pharaoh and his army to block them up be- 
tween the mountains of Piahiroth and the Red sea ; 
but there indeed Satan was outwitted by Moses, so far 
as it appeared to be a human action, for he little 
thought of their going dry-footed through the sea, but 
depended upon having them all cut in pieces the next 
morning, by the Egyptians ; an eminent proof, by the 
way, that the Devil has no knowledge of events, or any 
insight into futurity ; nay, that he has not so much as 
a second sight, or knows to-day what his Maker in- 
tends to do to-morrow; for had Satan known that 
God intended to ford them over the sea, if he had not 



152 THE POLITICAL 

been able to have prevented the miracle, he would 
certainly have prevented the escape, by sending out 
Pharaoh and his army time enough to have taken the 
strand before them, and so have driven them to the 
necessity of travelling on foot round the north point of 
that sea, by the wilderness of Etan, where he would 
have pursued and harassed them with his cavalry, 
and in all probability have destroyed them : but the 
blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the dark, and 
unacquainted with futurity, knew nothing of the matter, 
was as much deceived as Pharaoh himself, stood still, 
flattering himself with the hopes of his booty, and the 
revenge he should take upon them the next morning ; 
till he saw the frighted waves in an uproar, and to his 
utter astonishment and confusion, saw the passage laid 
open, and Moses leading his vast army in full march 
over the dry space ; nay, even then it is very probable 
Satan did not know, that if the Egyptians followed 
them, the sea would return upon and overwhelm them; 
for I can hardly think so hard of the Devil himself, 
that if he had, he would have suffered, much less 
prompted, Pharaoh to follow the chace at such an ex- 
pense ; so that either he must be an ignorant, unfore- 
seeing Devil, or a very ungrateful false Devil to his 
friends the Egyptians. 

I am inclined also to the more charitable opinion of 
Satan too, because the escape of the Israelites was 
really a triumph over himself; for the war was cer- 
tainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to Pharaoh ; it 
was a victory over hell and Egypt together, and he 
would never have suffered the disgrace, if he had 
known it beforehand ; that is to say, though he could 
not have prevented the escape of Israel, or the dividing 
the water, yet he might have warned the Egyptians, 
and cautioned them not to venture in after them. 

But we shall see a great many weak steps taken by 
the Devil in the affair of this very people, and their 
forty years' wandering in the wilderness ; and though 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 153 

he was in some things successful, and wheedled them 
into many foolish and miserable murmurings and 
wranglings against God, and mutinies against poor 
Moses, yet the Devil was oftentimes baulked and dis- 
appointed ; and it is for this reason, that I choose to 
finish the first part of his history with the particular 
relation of his behaviour among the Jews, because 
also, we do not find any extraordinary things happen- 
ing anywhere else in the world, for above one thousand 
five hundred years ; no variety, no revolutions, all the 
rest of mankind lay still under his yoke, quietly sub- 
mitted to his government, did just as he bade them, 
worshipped every idol he set up, and, in a word, he had 
no difficulty with anybody but the Jews, and for this 
reason, I say, this part of his story will be the more 
useful and instructing. 

To return, therefore, to Moses, and his dividing the 
Red sea ; that the people went over or through it, 
that we have the sacred history for ; but how the 
Devil behaved, that you must come to me for, or I 
know not where you will find a true account of it, at 
least not in print. 

1. It was in the night they marched through; 
whether the Devil saw it in the dark or no, that's not 
my business. 

But when he had daylight for it, and viewed the 
next day's work, I make no question but all Hell felt 
the surprise, the prey being thus snatched out of their 
hands unexpectedly. It is true, the Egyptian host 
was sent to him in their room, but that was not what 
he aimed at ; for he was sure enough of them his own 
way, and if it was not just at that time, yet he knew 
what and who they were ; but as he had devoured the 
whole Israelitish host in his imagination, to the tune 
of at least a million and a half of souls ; men, women, 
and children ; it was, no doubt, a great disappointment 
to the Devil to miss of his prey, and to see them all 
triumphing on the other side in safety. 



154 THE POLITICAL 

It is true, Satan's annals do not mention this defeat, 
for historians are generally backward to register their 
own misfortunes ; but as we have an account of the 
fact from other hands, so as we cannot question the 
truth of it, the nature of the thing will tell us it was 
a disappointment to the Devil, and a very great one 
too. 

I cannot but observe here, that I think this part of 
the Devil's story very entertaining, because of the 
great variety of incidents which appear in every part 
of it ; sometimes he is like a hunted fox, curveting 
and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and 
found out, while, at the same time, he is carrying on his 
secret designs to draw the people he pretends to 
manage, into some snare or other to their hurt ; at an- 
other time, though the comparison is a little too low 
for his dignity, like a monkey that has done mischief, 
and who, making his own escape, sits and chatters at a 
distance, as if he had triumphed in what he had done ; 
so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a 
calf, to offer strange fire, to set up a schism, and the 
like, and so to bring the divine vengeance upon them- 
selves, leaving them in their distress, kept at a dis- 
tance, as if he looked on with satisfaction to see them 
burned, swallowed up, swept away, and the like ; as the 
several stories relate. 

His indefatigable vigilance is, on the other hand, a 
useful caveat, as well as an improving view to us ; no 
sooner is he routed and exposed, defeated and disap- 
pointed in one enterprise, but he begins another, and, 
like a canning gladiator, warily defends himself and 
boldly attacks his enemy at the same time. Thus we 
see him, up and down, conquering and conquered, 
through this whole part of his story, till at last, he re- 
ceives a total defeat, of which you shall hear in its 
place : in the mean time, let us take up his story again 
at the Red sea, where he received a great blow, in- 
stead of which he expected a complete victory; for, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 155 

doubtless, the Devil, and the king of Egypt too, thought 
of nothing but conquest at Piahiroth. 

However, though the triumph of the Israelites over 
the Egyptians must needs be a great mortification to 
the Devil, and exasperated him very much, yet the 
consequence was only this, viz., that Satan, like an 
enemy who is baulked and defeated, but not overcome, 
redoubles his rage, and re-enforces his army, and what 
the Egyptians could not do for him, he resolves to do 
for himself; in order then to take his opportunity for 
what mischief might offer, being defeated, and pro- 
voked, I say, at the slur that was put upon him, he 
resolves to follow them into the wilderness, and many 
a vile prank he played them there ; as first, he straitens 
them for water, and makes them murmur against God, 
and against Moses, within a very few days, nay, hours, 
of their great deliverance of all. 

Nor was this all; but, in less than one year more, we 
find them, (at his instigation too,) setting up a golden 
calf, and making all the people dance about it at 
mount Sinai ; even when God himself had but just 
before appeared to them in the terrors of a burning 
fire upon the top of the mountain ; and what was the 
pretence ? Truly, nothing but that they had lost Moses, 
who used to be their guide, and he had hid himself in 
the mount, and had not been seen in forty days, so 
that they could not tell what was become of him. 
This put them all into confusion ; a poor pretence, in- 
deed, to turn them all back to idolatry ! but the 
watchful Devil took the hint, pushed the advantage, 
and insinuated that they should never see Moses again, 
that he was certainly devoured by venturing too near 
the flashes of fire in the mount, and presuming upon 
the liberty he had taken before ; in a word, that God 
had destroyed Moses, or he was starved to death for 
want of food, having been forty days and forty nights 
absent. 

All these were, it is true, in themselves most foolish 



156 THE POLITICAL 

suggestions, considering Moses was admitted to the 
vision of God, and that God had been pleased to ap- 
pear to him in the most intimate manner ; that as they 
might depend God would not destroy his faithful ser- 
vant, so they might have concluded he was able to 
support his being without food as long as he thought 
fit ; but to a people so easy to believe anything, what 
could be too gross for the Devil to persuade them to ? 

A people who could dance round a calf, and call it 
their god, might do anything ; that could say to one 
another, that this was the great Jehovah that brought 
them out of the land of Egypt ; and that within so few 
days after God's miraculous appearance to them, and 
for them ; I say, such a people were really fitted to be 
imposed upon, nothing could be too gross for them. 

This was, indeed, his first considerable experiment 
upon them as a people, or as a body ; and the truth is, 
his affairs required it, for Satan, who has been a suc- 
cessful devil in most of his attempts upon mankind, 
could hardly doubt of success in anything after he had 
carried his point at mount Sinai : to bring them to 
idolatry in the very face of their deliverer, and just 
after their deliverance ! It was more astonishing, in 
the main, than even their passing the Red sea. In a 
word, the Devil's whole history does not furnish us 
with a story equally surprising. 

And how was poor Aaron bewildered in it too ? He 
that was Moses's partner in all the great things that 
Moses did in Pharaoh's sight, and that was appointed 
to be his assistant and oracle, or orator rather, upon 
all public occasions ; that he, above all the rest, should 
come into this absurd and ridiculous proposal, he that 
was singled out for the sacred priesthood ; for him to 
defile his holy hands with a polluted abominable sacri- 
fice, and with making the idol for them too, (for it is 
plain that he made it,) how monstrous was it! 

And see what an answer he gives to his brother 
Moses ; how weak ! how simple ! I did so and so, in- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 157 

deed, I bade them bring the earrings, &c, and I cast 
the gold into the fire, and it came out this calf. Ri- 
diculous ! as if the calf came out by mere fortuitous 
adventure, without a mould to cast it in ; which could 
not be supposed : and if it had not come out so with- 
out a mould, Moses would certainly have known of it. 
Had Aaron been innocent, he would have answered 
after quite another manner, and told Moses honestly 
that the whole body of the people came to him in a 
fright, that they forced him to make them an idol ; 
which he did, by making first a proper mould to cast 
it in, and then taking the proper metal to cast it from; 
that indeed he had sinned in so doing, but that he was 
mobbed into it, and the people terrified him, perhaps 
they threatened to kill him ; and if he had added, that 
the Devil, prompting his fear, beguiled him, he had said 
nothing but what was certainly true ; for if it was in 
Satan's power to make the people insolent and outrage- 
ous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable 
prophet (for he was not yet a priest) who was the brother 
of their oracle, Moses, and had been partner with him 
in so many of his commissions ; I say, if he could bring 
up the passions of the people to a height to be rude 
and unmannerly to him (Aaron), and perhaps to 
threaten and insult him, he may be easily supposed to 
be able to intimidate Aaron, and terrify him into a 
compliance. 

See this cunning agent, when he has man's de- 
struction in his view, how securely he acts ! he never 
wants a handle ; the best of men have one weak place 
or other, and he always finds it out, takes the advantage 
of it, and conquers them by one artifice or another ; 
only, take it with you as you go, it is always by stra- 
tagem, never by force; a proof that he is not empowered 
to use violence. He may tempt, and he does prevail ; 
but it is all legerdemain, it is all craft and artifice, he 
is still AtajSoXyj, the calumniator and deceiver, that is, 
the misrepresenter ; he misrepresents man to God, and 



158 THE POLITICAL 

misrepresents God to man ; also he misrepresents 
things ; he puts false colours, and then manages the 
eye to see tbem with an imperfect view, raising clouds 
and fogs to intercept our sight ; in short, he deceives 
all our senses, and imposes upon us in things which 
otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of. 

This, indeed, is in part the benefit of the Devil's 
history, to let us see that he has used the same method 
all along ; and that ever since he has had anything to 
do with mankind, he has practised upon them with 
stratagem and cunning ; also it is observable that he 
has carried his point better that way than he would 
ha^e done by fury and violence, if he had been allowed 
to make use of it ; for, by his power indeed he might 
have laid the world desolate, and made a heap of 
rubbish of it long ago. But, as I have observed be- 
fore, that would not have answered his ends half so 
well, for by destroying men he would have made 
martyrs, and sent abundance of good men to heaven, 
who would much rather have died than yielded to 
serve him, and, as he aimed to have it, to fall down 
and worship him ; I say, he would have made martyrs, 
and that not a few : but this was none of Satan's busi- 
ness ; his design lies quite another way ; his business 
is to make men sin, not to make them suffer ; to make 
devils of them, not saints ; to delude them, and draw 
them away from their Maker, not send them away to 
him ; and therefore he works by stratagem, not by 
force. 

We are now come to his story, as it relates to the 
Jewish church in the wilderness, and to the children of 
Israel in their travelling circumstances ; and this was 
the first scene of public management that the Devil 
had upon his hands in the world ; for, as I have said, 
till now, he dealt with mankind either in their separate 
condition, one by one, or else carried all before him, 
engrossing whole nations in his systems of idolatry, and 
overwhelming them in an ignorant destruction. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 159 

Bat having now a whole people, as it were, snatched 
away from him, taken out of his government, and, 
which was still worse, having a view of a kingdom 
being set up independent of him, and superior to his 
authority, it is not to be wondered at if he endeavoured 
to overthrow them in the infancy of their constitution, 
and tried all possible arts to bring them back into his 
own hands again. 

He found them not only carried away from the 
country where they were even in his clutches, sur- 
rounded with idols, and where we have reason to be- 
lieve the greatest part of them were polluted with the 
idolatry of the Egyptians ; for we do not read of any 
stated worship which they had of their own, or if they 
did worship the true God, we scarce know in what 
manner they did it ; they had no law given them, no- 
thing but the covenant of circumcision, and even Moses 
himself had not strictly observed that, till he was 
frightened into it ; we read of no sacrifices among them, 
no feasts were ordained, no solemn worship appointed, 
and how, or in what manner they performed their 
homage, we know not ; the Passover was not ordained 
till just at their coming away; so that there was not 
much religion among them, at least that we have any 
account of; and we may suppose the Devil was pretty 
easy with them all the while they were in the house of 
their bondage. 

But now, to have a million of people fetched out of 
his hands, as it were all at once, and to have the 
immediate power of heaven engaged in it, and that 
Satan saw evidently God had singled them out in a 
miraculous manner to favour them, and call them his 
own ; this alarmed him at once, and therefore he re- 
solves to follow them, lay close siege to them, and take 
all the measures possible to bring them to rebel against, 
and disobey God, that he might be provoked to destroy 
them ; and how near he went to bring it to pass, we 
shall see presently. 



160 THE POLITICAL 

This making a calf, and paying an idolatrous worship 
to it (for they acted the heathens and idolaters, not in 
the setting up the calf only, but in the manner of their 
worshipping, viz. dancing and music, things they had 
not been acquainted with in the worship of the true 
God) I mention here, to observe how the Devil not 
only imposed upon their principles, but upon their 
senses too ; as if the awful majesty of heaven, whose 
glory they had seen in mount Sinai, where they stood, 
and whose pillar of cloud and fire was their guide and 
protection, would be worshipped by dancing round a 
calf! and that not a living creature, or a real calf, but 
the mere image of a calf cast in gold, or, as some think, 
in brass gilded over. 

But this was the Devil's way with mankind, namely, 
to impose upon their senses, and bring them into the 
grossest follies and absurdities ; and then having first 
made them fools, it was much the easier to make them 
offenders. 

In this very manner he acted with them through all 
the course of their wilderness travels ; for, as they were 
led by the hand like children, defended by omnipotence, 
fed by miracles, instructed immediately from heaven, 
and in all things had Moses for their guide, they had 
no room to miscarry, but by acting the greatest absurd- 
ities, and committing the greatest follies in nature ; 
and even these the Devil brought them to be guilty of 
in a surprising manner: 1. As God himself relieved 
them in every exigence, and supplied them in every 
want, one would think it was impossible they should be 
ever brought to question either his willingness or his 
ability, and yet they really objected against both ; 
which was indeed very provoking, and I doubt not, 
that when the Devil had brought them to act in such 
a preposterous manner, he really hoped and believed 
God would be provoked effectually. The testimonies of 
his care of them, and ability to supply them were 
miraculous and undeniable ; he gave them water from 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 161 

the rock, bread from the air, sent the fowls to feed them 
with flesh, and supported them all the way by miracles ; 
their health was preserved, none were sick among them, 
their clothes did not wear out, nor their shoes grow 
old upon their feet ; could anything be more absurd, 
than to doubt whether he could provide for them, who 
had never let them want for so many years ? 

But the Devil managed them in spite of miracle ; 
nor did be ever give them over till he had brought six 
hundred thousand of them to provoke God so highly 
that he would not suffer above two of them to go into 
the land of promise ; so that, in short, Satan gained his 
point as to that generation, for all their carcases fell in 
the wilderness. Let us take but a short view to what 
a height he brought them, and in what a rude, absurd 
manner they acted ; how he set them upon murmuring 
upon every occasion, now for water, then for bread ; 
nay, they murmured at their bread when they had it ; 
Our soul loathes this light bread. 

He sowed the seeds of church rebellion in the sons 
of Aaron, and made Nadab and Abihu offer strange 
fire till they were strangely consumed by fire for the 
doing it. 

He set them a complaining at Taberah ; and a lust- 
ing for flesh at the first three days' journey from mount 
Sinai. 

He planted envy in the hearts of Miriam and Aaron 
against the authority of Moses, to pretend God had 
spoken by them as well as by him, till he humbled the 
father, and made a leper of the daughter. 

He debauched ten of the spies, frightened them with 
sham appearances of things, when they went out to 
search the land, and made them frighten the whole 
people out of their understanding, as well as duty, for 
which six hundred thousand of their carcases fell in the 
wilderness. 

He raised the rebellion of Korah and the two hun- 

H. D. M 



162 THE POLITICAL 

dred and fifty princes, till he brought them to be swal- 
lowed up alive. 

He put Moses into a passion at Meribah, and ruffled 
the temper of the meekest man upon earth, by which 
he made both him and Aaron forfeit their share of the 
promise, and be shut out from the Holy Land. 

He raised a mutiny among them when they travelled 
from mount Hor, till they brought fiery serpents among 
them to destroy them. 

He tried to make Balaam the prophet curse them ; 
but there the Devil was disappointed ; however, he 
brought the Midianites to debauch them with women, 
as in the case of Zimri and Cosbi. 

He tempted Achan with the wedge of gold and the 
Babylonish garment, that he might take of the accursed 
thing, and be destroyed. 

He tempted the whole people not effectually to drive 
out the cursed inhabitants of the land of promise, that 
they might remain and be goads in their sides, till at 
last they often oppressed them for their idolatry, and, 
which was worse, debauched them to idolatry. 

He prompted the Benjamites to refuse satisfaction 
to the people in the case of the wickedness of the men 
of Gibeah, to the destruction of the whole tribe, four 
hundred men excepted, in the rock Bimmon. 

At last he tempted them to reject the theocracy of 
their Maker, and call upon Samuel to make them a 
king ; and most of those kings he made plagues and 
sorrows to them in their time, as you shall hear in 
their order. 

Thus he plagued the whole body of the people con- 
tinually, making them sin against God, and bring 
judgments upon themselves, to the consuming some 
millions of them, first and last, by the vengeance of 
their Maker. 

As he did with the whole congregation, so he did 
with their rulers and several of the judges, who were 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 163 

made instruments to deliver the people, yet were drawn 
into snares by this subtle serpent to ruin themselves or 
the people they had delivered. 

He tempted Gideon to make an ephod, contrary to 
the law of the tabernacle, and made the children of 
Israel go a whoring (that is, a worshipping) after it. 

He tempted Samson to debauch himself with a har- 
lot, and betray his own happy secret to a whore, at the 
expense of both his eyes, and at last of his life. 

He tempted Eli's sons to lie with the women in the 
very doors of the tabernacle, when they came to bring 
their offerings to the priest ; and he tempted poor Eli 
to connive at them, or not sufficiently reprove them. 

He tempted the people to carry the ark of God into 
the camp, that it might fall into the hands of the Phi- 
listines. And 

He tempted Uzzi to reach out his hand to hold it up ; 
as if he that had preserved it in the house of Dagon, 
the idol of the Philistines, could not keep it from fall- 
ing out of a cart. 

When the people had gotten a king, he immediately 
set to work in divers ways to bring that king to load 
them with plagues and calamities, not a few. 

He tempted Saul to spare the king of Amalek, con- 
trary to God's express command. 

He not tempted Saul only, but possessed him with an 
evil spirit, by which he was left to wayward disposi- 
tions, and was forced to have it fiddled out of him with 
a minstrel. 

He tempted Saul with a spirit of discontent, and 
with a spirit of envy at poor David, to hunt him like a 
partridge upon the mountains. 

He tempted Saul with a spirit of divination, and sent 
him to a witch to inquire of Samuel for him ; as if God 
would help him when he was dead, that had forsaken 
him when he was alive. 

After that, he tempted him to kill himself, on a pre- 
tence that he might not fall into the hands of the un- 

M £i 



164 THE POLITIC Ali 

circumcised ; as if self-murder was not half so bad, 
either for sin against God, or disgrace among men, as 
being taken prisoner by a Philistine ! A piece of mad- 
ness none but the Devil could have brought mankind 
to submit to, though, some ages after that, he made it 
a fashion among the Romans. 

After Saul was dead, and David come to the throne, 
by how much he was a man chosen and particularly 
favoured by heaven, the Devil fell upon him with the 
more vigour, attacked him so many ways, and con- 
quered him so very often, that, as no man was so good 
a king, so hardly any good king was ever a worse man ; 
in many cases one would have almost thought the 
Devil had made sport with David, to show how easily 
he could overthrow the best man God could choose of 
the whole congregation. 

He made him distrust his benefactor so much as to 
feign himself mad before the king of Gath, when he had 
fled to him for shelter. 

He made him march with his four hundred cut- 
throats, to cut off poor Nabal, and all his household, 
only because he would not send him the good cheer 
he had provided for his honest sheep-shearers. 

He made him, for his word's sake, give Ziba half his 
master's estate for his treachery, after he knew he had 
been the traitor, and betrayed poor Mephibosheth for 
the sake of it ; in which, 

The good old king, it seems, was very loath 
To break his word, and therefore broke his oath. 

Then he tempted him to the ridiculous project of 
numbering the people, though against God's express 
command ; a thing Joab himself was not wicked 
enough to do, till David and the Devil forced him 
to it. 

And, to make him completely wicked, he carried 
him to the top of his house, and showed him a naked 
lady bathing herself in her garden, in which it ap- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 165 

peared that the Devil knew David too well, and what 
was the particular sin of his inclination ; and so took 
him by the right handle, drawing him at once into 
the sins of murder and adultery. 

Then, that he might not quite give him over, 
(though David's repentance for the last sin kept the 
Devil off for a while), when he could attack him no 
further personally, he fell upon him in his family, and 
made him as miserable as he could desire him to be, 
in his children, three of whom he brought to destruc- 
tion before his face, and another after his death. 

First, he tempted Amnon to ravish his sister 
Tamar ; so there was an end of her (poor girl !) as 
to this world, for we never hear any more of her. 

Then he tempted Absalom to murder his brother 
Amnon, in revenge for Tamar's maidenhead. 

Then he made Joab run Absalom through the body, 
contrary to David's command. 

And, after David's death, he brought Adonijah (weak 
man !) to the 1)lock, for usurping king Solomon's 
throne. 

As to Absalom, he tempted him to rebellion, and 
raising war against his father, to the turning him 
shamefully out of Jerusalem, and almost out of the 
kingdom. 

He tempted him, for David's further mortification, 
to lie with his father's wives, in the face of the whole 
city ; |and had Ahithophel's honest counsel been fol- 
lowed, he had certainly sent him to sleep with his 
fathers long before his time. But there Satan and 
Ahithophel were both outwitted together. 

Through all the reigns of the several successors of 
David, the Devil took care to carry on his own game, 
to the continual insulting the measures which God 
himself had taken for the establishing his people in 
the world, and especially as a church ; till, at last, he 
so effectually debauched them to idolatry, that crime, 
which, of all others, was most provoking to God, as it 



166 THE POLITICAL 

was carrying the people away from their allegiance, 
and transposing the homage they owed God their 
maker, to a contemptible block of wood, or an image 
of a brute beast ; and this, how sordid and brutish 
soever it was in itself, yet so did his artifice prevail 
among them, that, first or last, he brought them all 
into it, the ten tribes as well as the two tribes ; till, at 
last, God himself was provoked to unchurch them, 
give them up to their enemies ; and the few that were 
left of them, after incredible slaughters and desolation, 
were hurried away, some into Tartary, and others into 
Babylon ; from whence very few, of that few that 
were carried away, ever found their way home again ; 
and some, when they might have come, would not ac- 
cept of it, but continued there to the very coming of 
the Messiah. See epistles of St. James and of St. 
Peter, at the beginning. 

But to look a little back upon this part, (for it can- 
not be omitted, it makes so considerable a part of the 
Devil's history,) I mean his drawing God's people, 
kings and all, into all the sins and mischiefs which 
gradually contributed to their destruction. 

First, (for he began immediately with the very best 
and wisest of the race,) he drew in king Solomon, in 
the midst of all his zeal for the building God's house, 
and for the making the most glorious and magnificent 
appearance for God's worship that ever the world saw; 
I say, in the middle of all this, he drew him into such 
immoderate and insatiable an appetite for women, as 
to set up the first, and, perhaps, the greatest seraglio 
of whores that ever any prince in the world had, or 
pretended to before : nay, and to bring whoring so much 
into reputation, that, as the text says, seven hundred 
of them were princesses, that is to say, ladies of qua- 
lity; not as the grand seigniors, and great moguls, 
(other princes of the eastern world) have since prac- 
tised, namely, to pick up their most beautiful slaves ; 
but these, it seems, were women of rank, kings' 



HISTORY OF THE BEVEL. 167 

daughters, as Pharaoh's daughter, and the daughters 
of the princes and prime men among the Moabites, 
Ammonites, Zidonians, Hittites, &c. — 1 Kings xi. 1. 

Nor was this all ; but as he drew him into the love 
of these forbidden women, (for such they were, as to 
their nation as well as number,) so he ensnared him 
by those women to a familiarity with their worship ; 
and, by degrees, brought that famous prince (famous 
for his wisdom) to be the greatest, and most-imposed- 
upon old fool in the world; bowing down to those 
idols, by the enticings of his whores, whom he had 
abhorred and detested in his youth, as dishonouring 
that God for whom, and for whose worship, he had 
finished and dedicated the most magnificent building 
and temple in the world. Nothing but the invincible 
subtlety of this archdevil could ever have brought 
such a man as Solomon to such a degeneracy of man- 
ners, and to such meannesses : no, not the Devil him- 
self, without the assistance of his whores, nor the 
whores themselves, without the Devil to help them. 

As to Solomon, Satan had made conquest enough 
there, we need hear no more of him ; the next advance 
he made, was in the person of his son Rehoboam; had 
not the Devil prompted his pride and tyrannical hu- 
mour, he would never have given the people such an 
answer as he did ; and when he saw a fellow at the 
head of them too, whom he knew wanted and waited 
for an occasion to raise a rebellion, and had ripened 
up the people's humour to the occasion. Well might 
the text call it, ( listening to the counsel of the young 
heads :' that it was, indeed, with a vengeance ! but 
those young heads too, were acted by an old Devil, 
who, for his craft, is called, as I have observed, the 
old serpent 

Having thus paved the way, Jeroboam revolts. So 
far God had directed him ; for the text says expressly, 
speaking in the first person of God himself, This thing 
is of me. 



168 THE POLITICAL 

But, though God might appoint Jeroboam to be 
king, (that is to say, of ten tribes,) yet God did not 
appoint him to set up the two calves in the two ex- 
treme parts of the land, viz., in Dan and in Bethel ; 
that was Jeroboam's own doing, and done on purpose 
to keep the people from falling back to Rehoboam, by 
being obliged to go to Jerusalem to the public wor- 
ship : and the text adds, Jeroboam made Israel to 
sin. This was, indeed, a masterpiece of the Devil's 
policy, and it was effectual to answer the end ; nothing 
could have been more to the purpose: what reason he 
had to expect the people would so universally come 
into it, and be so well satisfied with a couple of calves, 
instead of the true worship of God at Jerusalem, or 
what arts and management he (Satan) made use of 
afterwards, to bring the people in, to join with such a 
delusion, that we find but little of in all the annals of 
Satan, nor is it much to the case. It is certain the 
Devil found a strange kind of propensity to worshipping 
idols rooted in the temper of that whole people, even 
from their first breaking away from the Egyptian 
bondage ; so that he had nothing to do but to work 
upon the old stock, and propagate the crime that he 
found was so natural to them. And this is Satan's 
general way of working, not with them only, but with 
us also, and with all the world, even then, and ever 
since. 

When he had thus secured Jeroboam's revolt, we 
need not trace him among his successors ; for the same 
reason of state that held for the setting up the calves 
at Bethel and Dan, held good for the keeping them 
up to all Jeroboam's posterity ; nor had they one good 
king ever after ; even Jehu, who called his friends to 
come and see his zeal for the Lord, and who fulfilled 
the threatenings of God upon Ahab and his family, 
and upon queen Jezebel and her offspring, and knew 
all the while that he was executing the judgment of 
the true God, upon an idolatrous race ; yet he would 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 169 

not part with his calves, but would have thought it 
to have been parting with his kingdom, and that as the 
people would have gone up to Jerusalem to worship, 
so they would at the same time have transferred their 
civil obedience to the king of Judah, whose right it 
really was, as far as they could claim by birth and 
right line ; so that, by the way, Satan any more than 
other politicians, is not for the jus divinum of lineal 
succession, or what we call hereditary right, any 
further than serves for his purpose. 

Thus Satan ridded his hands of ten of the twelve 
tribes ; let us now see how he went on with the rest, 
for his work was now brought into a narrower compass : 
the church of God was now reduced to two tribes, ex- 
cept a few religious people, who separated from the 
schism of Jeroboam, and came and planted themselves 
among the tribes of Judah and Benjamin ; the first 
thing the Devil did after this, was to foment a war be- 
tween the two kings, while Judah was governed by a 
boy or youth, Abijah by name, and he none of the best 
neither ; but God's time was not come, and the Devil 
received a great disappointment, when Jeroboam was 
so entirely overthrown, that if the records of those 
ages do not mistake, no less than five hundred thousand 
men of Israel were killed ; such a slaughter, that one 
would think the army of Judah, had they known how 
to improve as well as gain a victory, might have 
brought all the rest back again, and have entirely re- 
duced the house of Jeroboam, and the ten tribes that 
followed him, to their obedience ; nay, they did take a 
great deal of the country from him, and among the rest, 
Bethel itself; and yet so cunningly did Satan manage, 
that the king of Judah, who was himself a wicked king, 
and perhaps an idolater in his heart, did not take down 
the golden calf that Jeroboam had there, no, nor de- 
stroy the idolatry itself, so that, in short, his victory 
signified nothing. 

From hence to the captivity, we find the Devil busy 



170 THE POLITICAL 

with the kings of Judah, especially the best of them ; as 
for such as Manasseh and those who transgressed by 
the general tenor of their lives, those he had no great 
trouble with. 

But such as Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and 
Josiah, he hung about them and their courts, till he 
brought every one of them into some mischief or an- 
other. 

As first, good king Asa, of whom the Scripture 
says, his heart was perfect all his days, yet this subtle 
spirit, that could break in upon him nowhere else, 
tempted him when the king of Israel came out against 
him, to send to hire Benhadad the king of Syria to help 
him ; as if God, who had before enabled him to conquer 
the Ethiopians, with an army of ten hundred thousand 
men, could not have saved him from the king of the ten 
tribes. 

In the same manner he tempted Jehoshaphat to join 
with that wicked king Ahab against the king of Syria, 
and also to marry his son to Ahab's daughter, which 
was fatal to Jehoshaphat, and to his posterity. 

Again, he tempted Hezekiah to show all his riches 
to the king of Babylon's messengers ; and who can 
doubt, but that he (Satan) is to be understood by the 
wicked spirit which stood before the Lord, 2 Chron. 
xviii. 20, and offered his service to entice Ahab the 
king of Israel to come out to battle to his ruin, by being 
a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets ; and 
who for that time had a special commission, as he had 
another time in the case of Job ? and indeed it was a 
commission fit for nobody but the Devil ; Thou shalt 
entice him, and thou shalt also prevail; go out and do 
even so. ver. 21. 

Even good Josiah himself, of whom it is recorded, 
that like him there was no king before him, neither 
after him arose ther any like him, 2 Kings xxiii. 25, 
yet the Devil never left him with his machinations, till 
finding he could not tempt him to anything wicked 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIE. 171 

in his government, he tempted or moved him to a need- 
less war with the king of Egypt, in which he lost his 
life. 

From the death of this good king, the Devil pre- 
vailed so with the whole nation of the Jews, and 
brought them to such an incorrigible pitch of wicked- 
ness, that God gave them up, forsook his habitation of 
glory, the temple, which he suffered to be spoiled first, 
then burnt and demolished ; destroying the whole 
nation of the Jews, except a small number that were 
left, and those the enemy carried away into captivity. 

Nor was he satisfied with this general destruction of 
the whole people of Israel, (for the ten tribes were gone 
before,) but he followed them even into their captivity; 
those that fled away to Egypt, which they tell us were 
seventy thousand, he first corrupted, and then they 
were destroyed there upon the overthrow of Egypt, by 
the same king of Babylon. 

Also he went very near to have them rooted out, 
young and old, man, woman and child, who were in 
captivity in Babylon, by the ministry of that true agent 
of hell, Haman the Agagite ; but there Satan met with 
a disappointment too, as in the story of Esther, which 
was but the fourth that he had met with in all his ma- 
nagement since the creation ; I say, there he was dis- 
appointed, and his prime minister Haman was exalted, 
as he deserved. 

Having thus far traced the government and domi- 
nion of the Devil, from the creation of man to the cap- 
tivity, I think I may call upon him to set up his 
standard of universal empire, at that period : it seemed 
just then as if God had really forsaken the earth, and 
given the entire dominion of mankind up to his out- 
rageous enemy the Devil; for excepting the few 
Israelites which were left in the territories of the king 
of Babylon, and they were but a few ; I say, except 
among them, there was not one corner of the world 
left where the true God was called upon, or his domi- 



172 THE POLITICAL 

nion so much as acknowledged ; all the world was 
buried in idolatry, and that of so many horrid kinds, 
that one would think the light of reason should have 
convinced mankind, that he who exacted such bloody 
sacrifices as that of Moloch, and such a bloody cutting 
themselves with knives, as the priests of Baal did, 
could not be a god, a good and beneficent being, but 
must be a cruel, voracious, and devouring devil, whose 
end was not the good, but the destruction of his crea- 
tures : but to such a height was the blind demented 
world arrived to at that time, that in these sordid and 
corrupt ways, they went on worshipping dumb idols, 
and offering human sacrifices to them, and in a word, 
committing all the most horrid and absurd abomina- 
tions that they were capable of, or that the Devil 
could prompt them to, till Heaven was again put as it 
were to the necessity of bringing about a revolution, 
in favour of his own forsaken people, by miracle and 
surprise, as he had done before. 

We come therefore to the restoration or return from 
the captivity : had Satan been able to have acted any- 
thing by force, as I have observed before, all the 
princes and powers of the world, having been, as they 
really were, at his devotion, he might easily have made 
use of them, armed all the world against the Jews, 
and prevented the rebuilding the temple, and even the 
return of the captivity. 

But now the Devil's power manifestly received a 
check, and the hand of God appeared in it, and that 
he was resolved to re-establish his people the Jews, 
and to have a second temple built : the Devil, who 
knew the extent of his own power too well, and what 
limitations were laid upon him, stood still, as it were 
looking on, and not daring to oppose the return of the 
captivity, which he very well knew had been prophe- 
sied, and would come to pass. 

He did indeed make some little opposition to the 
building, and to the fortifying the city, but as it was 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 173 

to no purpose, so he was soon obliged to give it over ; 
and thus the captivity being returned, and the temple 
rebuilt, the people of the Jews increased and mul- 
tiplied to an infinite number and strength ; and from 
this time, we may say the power of the Devil rather 
declined and decreased, than went on with success, as 
it had done before ; it is true the Jews fell into sects 
and errors, and divisions of many kinds, after the return 
from the captivity, and no doubt the Devil had a grea 
hand in those divisions ; but he could never bring 
them back to idolatry, and his not being able to do 
that, made him turn his hand so many ways to plague 
and oppress them ; as particularly by Antiochus the 
Great, who brought the abomination of desolation into 
the holy place ; and there the Devil triumphed over 
them for some time ; but they were delivered many 
ways, till at last they came peaceably under the pro- 
tection, rather than the dominion, of the Roman em- 
pire; when Herod the Great governed them as a king, 
and re-edified, nay, almost rebuilt their temple, with 
so great an expense and magnificence, that he made 
it, as some say, greater and more glorious than that of 
Solomon's, though that I take to be a great — fable, to 
say no worse of it. 

In this condition the Jewish church stood, when the 
fulness of time, as it is called in Scripture, was come ; 
and the Devil was kept at bay, though he had made 
some encroachments upon them as above ; for there 
was a glorious remnant of saints among them, such as 
old Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and old 
Simeon, who waited for the salvation of Israel ; I say, 
in this condition the Jewish church stood when the 
Messiah came into the world, which was such another 
mortal stab to the thrones and principalities infernal, 
as that of which I have spoken already in chap. iii. at 
the creation of man ; and therefore with this I break 
off the antiquities of the Devil's history, or the ancient 
part of his kingdom ; for from hence downward we 



174 THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 

shall find his empire has declined gradually ; and 
though by his wonderful address, his prodigious appli- 
cation, and the vigilance and fidelity of his instru- 
ments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and 
of the human, as well the ecclesiastic as the secular, 
he has many times retrieved what he has lost, and 
sometimes bid fair for recovering the universal empire 
he once possessed over mankind, yet he has been still 
defeated again, repulsed and beaten back, and his king- 
dom has greatly declined in many parts of the world ; 
and especially in the northern parts, except Great 
Britain : and how he has politically maintained his 
interest, and increased his dominion among the wise 
and righteous generation that we cohabit with and 
among, will be the subject of the modern part of 
Satan's history, and of which we are next to give an 
account. 




THE MODERN *- 

HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 

PART II. 



CHAP. I. 



I have examined the antiquities of Satan's history in 
the former part of this work, and brought his affairs 
down from the creation, as far as to our blessed 
Christian times ; especially to the coming of the 
Messiah, when one would think the Devil could have 
nothing to do among us. I have indeed but touched 
at some things which might have admitted of a further 
description of Satan's affairs, and the particulars of 
which we may all come to a further knowledge of 
hereafter ; yet I think I have spoken to the material 
part of his conduct, as it relates to his empire in this 
world : what has happened to his more sublimated 
government, and his angelic capacities, I shall have 
an occasion to touch at in several solid particulars as 
we go along. 

The Messiah was now born, the fulness of time was 
come, that the old serpent was to have his head broken ; 
that is to say, his empire or dominion over man, which 
he gained by the fall of our first father and mother in 
Paradise, received a downfal or overthrow. 

It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I 
have already mentioned of the limitation of Satan's 



1 76 THE MODERN 

power, that not only his angelic strength seems to have 
received a further blow upon the coming of the Son of 
God into the world, but he seems to have had a blow 
upon his intellects ; his serpentine craft and devil-like 
subtelty seems to have been circumscribed and cut short ; 
and instead of his being so cunning a fellow as before, 
when, as I said, it is evident he outwitted all mankind, 
not oaly Eve, Cain, Noah, Lot, and all the patriarchs, 
but even nations of men, and that in their public ca- 
pacity, and thereby led them into absurd and ridiculous 
things, such as the building of Babel, and deifying and 
worshipping their kings, when dead and rotten; idolizing 
beasts, stocks, stones, anything, and even nothing ; 
and, in a word, when he managed mankind just as he 
pleased. 

Now, and from this time forward, he appeared a 
weak, foolish, ignorant devil, compared to what he was 
before ; he was upon almost every occasion resisted, 
disappointed, balked, and defeated, especially in all 
his attempts to thwart or cross the mission and ministry 
of the Messiah, while he was upon earth, and sometimes 
upon other and very mean occasions too. 

And first, how foolish a project was it, and how 
below Satan's celebrated artifice in like cases, to put 
Herod upon sending to kill the poor innocent children 
in Bethlehem, in hopes to destroy the infant? for I 
take it for granted, it was the Devil put into Herod's 
thoughts that execution, how simple and foolish soever; 
now we must allow him to be very ignorant of the na- 
tivity himself, or else he might easily have guided his 
friend Herod to the place where the infant was. 

This shows that either the Devil is in general igno- 
rant as we are, of what is to come in the world, before 
it is really come to pass, and consequently can foretel 
nothing, no, not so much as our famous old Merlin or 
Mother Shipton did, or else that great event was hid 
from him by an immediate power superior to his, which 
I cannot think neither, considering how much he was 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 177 

concerned in it, and how certainly he knew that it was 
once to come to pass. 

But be that as it will, it is certain the Devil 
knew nothing where Christ was born, or when ; nor 
was he able to direct Herod to find him out, and there- 
fore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel order, 
to kill all the children, that he might be sure to destroy 
the Messiah among the rest. 

The next simple step that the Devil took, and, in- 
deed, the most foolish one that he could ever be charged 
with, unworthy the very dignity of a devil, and below the 
understanding that he always was allowed to act with, was 
that of coming to tempt the Messiah in the wilderness ; 
it is certain, and he owned it himself afterwards upon 
many occasions, that the Devil knew our Saviour to be 
the Son of God ; and it is as certain that he knew, that as 
such he could have no power or advantage over him ; 
how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that 
manner, If thou beest the Son of God ? why he knew 
him to be the Son of God well enough ; he said so 
afterwards, I know thee, who thou art, the holy one of 
God; how then could he be so weak a devil as to say, 
If thou art, then do so and so ? 

The case is plain, the Devil, though he knew him to 
be the Son of God, did not fully know the mystery of 
the incarnation ; nor did he know how far the inani- 
tion of Christ extended, and whether as man, he was 
not subject to fall, as Adam was, though his reserved 
Godhead might be still immaculate and pure ; and 
upon this foot, as he would leave no method untried, 
he attempts him three times, one immediately after 
another ; but then, finding himself disappointed, he 
fled. 

This evidently proves that the Devil was ignorant of 
the great mystery of godliness, as the text calls it, 
God manifest in the flesh; and therefore made that 
foolish attempt upon Christ, thinking to have con- 
quered his human nature, as capable of sin, which 

H. D. N 



178 THE MODERN 

it was not ; and at this repulse hell groaned, the 
whole army of regimented devils received a wound, 
and felt the shock of it ; it was a second overthrow to 
them, they had had a long chain of success, carried a 
devilish conquest over the greatest part of the creation 
of God ; but now they were cut short, the seed of the 
woman was now come to break the serpent's head, that 
is, to cut short his power, to contract the limits of his 
kingdom, and, in a word, to dethrone him in the world : 
no doubt the Devil received a shock, for you find him 
always afterwards crying out in a horrible manner, 
whenever Christ met with him, or else very humble 
and submissive, as when he begged leave to go into 
the herd of swine, a thing he has often done since. 

Defeated here, the first statagem I find him con- 
cerned in after it, was his entering into Judas, and 
putting him upon betraying Christ to the chief priest ; 
but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not 
see, as much a devil as he was, what the event would 
be ; but when he came to know, that if Christ was put 
to death he would become a propitiatory, and be the 
great sacrifice of mankind, so to rescue the fallen race 
from that death they had incurred the penalty of by 
the fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture 
prophecy, and that thus it was that Christ was to be 
the end of the law ; I say, as soon as he perceived this, 
he strove all he could to prevent it, and disturbed 
Pilate's wife in her sleep, in order to set her upon her 
husband to hinder his delivering him up to the Jews ; 
for then, and not till then, he knew how Christ was to 
vanquish hell by the power of his cross. 

Thus the Devil was disappointed and exposed in 
every step he took ; and as he now plainly saw his 
kingdom declining, and even the temporal kingdom of 
Christ rising up upon the ruins of his (Satan's) power, 
he seemed to retreat into his own region, the air, and 
to consult there with his fellow devils, what measures 
he should take next to preserve his dominion among 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 179 

men ; here it was that he resolved upon that truly 
hellish thing called Persecution, by which, though he 
proved a foolish devil in that too, he flattered himself 
he should be able to destroy God's church, and root 
out its professors from the earth, even almost as soon 
as it was established ; whereas, on the contrary, Heaven 
counteracted him there too, and though he armed the 
whole Roman empire against the Christians, that is to 
say, the whole world, and they were fallen upon every- 
where, with all the fury and rage of some of the most 
flaming tyrants that the world ever saw, of whom Nero 
was the first ; yet, in spite of hell, God made all the 
blood which the Devil caused to be spilt, to be semen 
ecclesice, and the Devil had the mortification to see 
that the number of Christians increased, even under 
the very means he made use of to root them out and 
destroy them ; this was the case through the reign of 
all the Roman emperors for the first three hundred 
years after Christ. 

Having thus tried all the methods that best suited 
his inclination, I mean those of blood and death, com- 
plicated with tortures and all kinds of cruelty, and that 
for so long a stage of time as above ; the Devil, all on 
a sudden, as if glutted with blood, and satiated with 
destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable spec- 
tator for a good while ; as if he either found himself 
unable, or had no disposition to hinder the progress of 
Christianity in the first ages of its settlement in the 
world ; in this interval the Christian church was es- 
tablished under Constantine, religion flourished in 
peace, and under the most perfect tranquillity ; the 
Devil seemed to be at a loss what he should do next, 
and things began to look as if Satan's kingdom was at 
an end ; but he soon let them see that he was the same 
indefatigable devil that ever he was, and the prosperity 
of the church gave him a large field of action ; for 
knowing the disposition of mankind to quarrel and dis- 
pute, the universal passion rooted in nature, especially 



180 THE MODERN 

among the churchmen, for precedency and dominion, 
he fell to work with them immediately ; so that turn- 
ing the tables, and reassuming the subtlety and craft, 
which, I say, he seemed to have lost in the former four 
hundred years, he gained more ground in the next 
ages of the church, and went further towards restoring 
his power and empire in the world, and towards over- 
throwing that very church which was so lately esta- 
blished, than all he had done by fire and blood before. 

His policy now seemed to be edged with resentment 
for the mistakes he had made ; as if the Devil, looking 
back with anger at himself, to see what a fool he had 
been to expect to crush religion by persecution, re- 
joiced for having discovered that liberty and dominion 
was the only way to ruin the church, not fire and faggot ; 
and that he had nothing to do but to give the zealous 
people their utmost liberty in religion, only sowing 
error and variety of opinion among them, and they 
would bring fire and faggot in fast enough among them - 
selves. 

It must be confessed these were devilish politics ; 
and so sure was the aim, and so certain was the Devil 
to hit his mark by them, that we find he not only did 
not fail then, but the same hellish methods have pre- 
vailed still, and will do so to the end of the world. 
Nor had the Devil ever a better game to play than 
this, for the ruin of religion, as we shall have room to 
show in many examples, besides that of the dissenters 
in England, who are evidently weakened by the late 
toleration : whether the Devil had any hand in bait- 
ing his hook with an a — of parliament or no, his- 
tory is silent, but it is too evident he has catched the 
fish by it ; and if the honest Church of England does 
not, in pity and Christian charity to the dissenters, 
straighten her hand a little, I cannot but fear the Devil 
will gain his point, and the dissenters will be undone 
by it. 

Upon this new foot of politics the Devil began with 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 181 

the emperors themselves. Arius, the father of the 
heretics of that age, having broached his opinions, and 
Athanasius the orthodox bishop of the East opposing 
him, the Devil no sooner saw the door open to strife 
and imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising 
the quarrel up to a suited degree of rage and spleen, 
he involved the good emperor himself in it first, and 
Athanasius was banished and recalled, and banished 
and recalled again, several times, as error ran high, 
and as the Devil either got or lost ground : after Con- 
stantine, the next emperor was a child of his own 
(Arian), and then the court came all into the quarrel, 
as courts often do, and then the Arians and the ortho- 
dox persecuted one another as furiously as the pagans 
persecuted them all before. To such a height the 
Devil brought his conquest in the very infancy of the 
question, and so much did he prevail over the true 
Christianity of the primitive church, even before they 
had enjoyed the liberty of the pure worship twenty 
years. 

Flushed with this success, the Devil made one push 
for the restoring paganism, and bringing on the old 
worship of the heathen idols and temples ; but, like our 
king James II., he drove too hard, and Julian had so 
provoked the whole Roman empire, which was generally 
at that time become Christian, that, had the apostate 
lived, he would not have been able to have held the 
throne; and as he was cut off in his beginning, paganism 
expired with him, and the Devil himself might have 
cried out, as Julian did, and with much more propriety, 
Vicisti Galilean, 

Jovian, the next emperor, being a glorious Christian 
and a very good and great man, the Devil abdicated 
for awhile, and left the Christian armies to re-establish 
the orthodox faith ; nor could he bring the Christians 
to a breach again among themselves a great while 
after. 

However, time and a diligent devil did the work at 



182 THE MODERN 

last, and when the emperors' concerning themselves one 
way or other, did not appear sufficient to answer his 
end, he changed hands again, and went to work with 
the clergy : to set the doctors effectually together by 
the ears, he threw in the new notion of primacy among 
them, for a bone of contention ; the bait took, the 
priests swallowed it eagerly down, and the Devil, a 
cunninger fisherman than ever St. Peter was, struck 
them (as the anglers call it) with a quick hand, and 
hung them fast upon the hook. 

Having them thus in his clutches, and they being 
now, as we may say, his own, they took their measures 
afterwards from him, and most obediently followed his 
directions ; nay, I will not say but he may have had 
pretty much the management of the whole society ever 
since, of what profession or party soever they may have 
been, with exception only to the reverend and right 
reverend among ourselves. 

The sacred, as above, being thus hooked in, and the 
Devil being at the head of their affairs, matters went 
on most gloriously his own way ; first, the bishops fell 
to bandying and party-making for the superiority, as 
heartily as ever temporal tyrants did for dominion, and 
took as black and devilish methods to carry it on, as 
the worst of those tyrants ever had done before them. 

At last Satan declared for the Roman pontiff, and 
that upon excellent conditions, in the reign of the 
emperor Mauritius ; for Boniface, who had long con- 
tended for the title of supreme, fell into a treaty with 
Phocas, captain of the emperor's guards : whether the 
bargain was from hell or not, let any one judge, the 
conditions absolutely entitle the Devil to the honour of 
making the contract, viz., that Phocas first murdering 
his master (the emperor) and his sons, Boniface should 
countenance the treason, and declare him emperor; and 
in return, Phocas should acknowledge the primacy of 
the Church of Rome, and declare Boniface universal 
bishop. A blessed compact! which at once set the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVLL. 183 

Devil at the head of affairs in the Christian world, as 
well spiritual as temporal, ecclesiastic and civil. Since 
the conquest over Eve in Paradise, by which Death and 
the Devil, hand in hand, established their first empire 
upon earth, the Devil never gained a more important 
point than he gained at this time. 

He had indeed prospered in his affairs tolerably well 
for some time before this, and his interest among the 
clergy had got ground for some ages ; but that was 
indeed a secret management, was carried on privately, 
and with difficulty ; as in sowing discord and faction 
among the people, perplexing the councils of their 
princes, and secretly wheedling in with the dignified 
clergy. 

Also he had raised abundance of little church rebel- 
lions, by setting up heretics of several kinds, and 
raising them favourers among the clergy, such as 
Ebion, Cerinthius, Pelagius, and others. 

He had drawn in the bishops of Rome to set up the 
ridiculous pageantry of the key ; and while he, the 
Devil, set open the gates of hell to them all, set them 
upon locking up the gates of heaven, and giving the 
bishop the key ; a cheat which, as gross as it was, the 
Devil so gilded over, or so blinded the age to receive 
it, that, like Gideon's ephod, all the catholic world went 
a whoring after the idol ; and the bishop of Rome sent 
more fools to the Devil by it than ever he pretended 
to let into heaven, though he opened the door as wide 
as his key was able to do. 

The story of this key being given to the bishop of 
Rome by St. Peter, (who, by the way, never had it 
himself,) and of its being lost by somebody or other, 
(the Devil it seems did not tell them who,) and its 
being found again by a Lombard soldier in the army of 
king Antharis, who attempting to cut it with his knife, 
was miraculously forced to direct the wound to himself, 
and cut his own throat ; that king Antharis and his 
nobles happened to see the fellow do it, and were con- 



184 THE MODERN 

verted to Christianity by it, and that the king sent the 
key, with another made like it, to pope Pelagius, then 
bishop of Rome, who thereupon assumed the power of 
opening and shutting heaven's gates ; and he after- 
wards setting a price or toll upon the entrance, as we 
do here at passing a turnpike ; these fine things, I say, 
were successfully managed for some years before this 
I am now speaking of, and the Devil got a great deal 
of ground by it too ; but now he triumphed openly, and 
having set up a murderer upon the temporal throne, 
and a church emperor upon the ecclesiastic throne, and 
both of his own choosing, the Devil may be said to 
begin his new kingdom from this epocha, and call it 
the restoration. 

Since this time indeed the Devil's affairs went very 
merrily on, and the clergy brought so many gewgaws 
into their worship, and such devilish principles were 
mixed with that which we call the Christian faith, 
that, in a word, from this time the bishop of Rome com- 
menced whore of Babylon, in all the most express terms 
that could be imagined : tyranny of the worst sort crept 
into the pontificate, errors of all sorts into the profession, 
and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the 
very popes, (for so the bishop of Rome was now called, 
by way of distinction,) I say, the popes themselves, 
their spiritual guides, professed openly to confederate 
with the Devil, and to carry on a personal and private 
correspondence with him at the same time, taking upon 
them the title of Christ's vicar, and the infallible guide 
of the consciences of Christians. 

This we have sundry instances of in some merry 
popes, who, if fame lies not, were sorcerers, magicians, 
had familiar spirits, and immediate conversation with 
the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this 
means became what we call devils incarnate : upon 
this account it is that I have left the conversation that 
passes between devils and men to this place, as well 
because I believe it differs much now in his modern 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 185 

state, from what it was in his ancient state, and there- 
fore that which most concerns us belongs rather to 
this part of his history ; as also because, as I am now 
writing to the present age, I choose to bring the most 
significant parts of his history, especially as they 
relate to ourselves, into that part of time that we are 
most concerned in. 

The Devil had once, as I observed before, the 
universal monarchy or government of mankind in 
himself, and I doubt not but in that flourishing state 
of his affairs, he governed them like what he is, viz., an 
absolute tyrant ; during this theocracy of his, (for Satan 
is called the god of this world,) he did not familiarize 
himself to mankind so much as he finds occasion to do 
now, there was not then so much need of it ; he 
governed then with an absolute sway ; he had his 
oracles, where he gave audience to his votaries like a 
deity, and he had his sub-gods, who, under his several 
dispositions, received the homage of mankind in their 
names ; such were all the rabble of the heathen 
deities, from Jupiter the supreme, to the Lares or 
household gods of every family; these, I say, like 
residents, received the prostrations, but the homage was 
all Satan's ; the Devil had the substance of it all, which 
was the idolatry. 

During this administration of hell, there was less 
witchcraft, less true literal magic, than there has been 
since ; there was indeed no need of it, the Devil did not 
stoop to the mechanism of his more modern operations, 
but ruled as a deity, and received the vows and the 
bows of his subjects in more state, and with more 
solemnity ; whereas, since that, he is content to employ 
more agents and take more pains himself too ; now he 
runs up and down hackney in the world, more like a 
drudge than a prince, and much more than he did 
then. 

Hence all those things we call apparitions and 
visions of ghosts, familiar spirits, and dealings with the 



186 THE MODEIfcN 

Devil, of which there is so great a variety in the world 
at this time, were not so much known among the 
people in those first ages of the Devil's kingdom ; in a 
word, the Devil seems to be put to his shifts, and to 
fly to art and stratagem for the carrying on his affairs, 
much more now than he did then. 

One reason for this may be, that he has been more 
discovered and exposed in these ages, than he was be- 
fore; then he could appear in the world in his own 
proper shapes, and yet not be known ; when the sons 
of God appeared at the divine summons, Satan came 
along with them ; but now he has played so many 
scurvy tricks upon men, and they know him so well, 
that he is obliged to play quite out of sight, and act in 
disguise ; mankind will allow nothing of his doing, 
and hear nothing of his saying, in his own name ; and 
if you propose anything to be done, and it be but said 
the Devil is to help in the doing it, or if you say of 
any man, ' he deals with the Devil/ or ' the Devil has a 
hand in it,' everybody flies him and shuns him, as the 
most frightful thing in the world. 

Nay, if anything strange and improbable be done, 
or related to be done, we presently say the Devil was 
at the doing it. Thus the great ditch at Newmarket 
Heath is called the Devil's ditch ; so the Devil built 
Crowland abbey, and the whispering-place in Glou- 
cester cathedral ; nay, the cave at Castleton, only be- 
cause there is no getting to the further end of it, is 
called the Devil's a , and the like. The poor peo- 
ple of Wiltshire, when you ask them how the great 
stones at Stonehenge were brought thither, they will 
all tell you the Devil brought them. If any mischief 
extraordinary befalls us, we presently say ' the Devil 
was in it,' and ' the Devil would have it so :' in a word, 
the Devil has got an ill name among us, and so he is 
fain to act more in tenebris, more incog., than he 
used to do, play out of sight himself, and work by the 
sap, as the engineers call it, and not openly and avow- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 187 

edly in his own name and person, as formerly, though, 
perhaps, not with less success than he did before : and 
this leads me to inquire more narrowly into the man- 
ner of the Devil's management of his affairs since the 
Christian religion began to spread in the world, which 
manifestly differs from his conduct in more ancient 
times ; in which, if we discover some of the most con- 
summate fool's policy, the most profound simple craft, 
and the most subtle shallow management of things that 
can by our weak understandings be conceived, we must 
only resolve it into this — that, in short, it is the Devil. 



THE MODERN 



CHAP. II. 



Of Hell, as it is represented to us, and how the Devil 
is to be understood as being personally in Hell, 
ivhen, at the same time, we find him at liberty, rang- 
ing over the world. 

It is true, as that learned and pleasant author, the 
inimitable Dr. Brown, says, 'The Devil is his own hell;' 
one of the most constituting parts of his infelicity is, 
that he cannot act upon mankind brevi manu, by his 
own inherent power, as well as rage ; that he cannot 
unhinge this creation, which, as I have observed in its 
place, he had the utmost aversion to from its begin- 
ning, as it was a stated design in the Creator to supply 
his place in heaven with a new species of being called 
man, and fill the vacancies occasioned by his degene- 
racy and rebellion. 

This filled him with rage inexpressible, and horrible 
resolutions of revenge, and the impossibility of execut- 
ing those resolutions torments him with despair ; this, 
added to what he was before, makes him a complete 
devil, with a hell in his own breast, and a fire un- 
quenchable burning about his heart. 

I might enlarge here, and very much to the purpose, 
in describing, spherically and mathematically, that ex- 
quisite quality called a devilish spirit, in which it 
would naturally occur to give you a whole chapter upon 
the glorious articles of malice and envy, and especially 
upon that luscious, delightful, triumphant passion, 
called revenge : how natural to man, nay, even to both 
sexes : how pleasant in the very contemplation, though 
there be not, just at that time, a power of execution: how 
palatable it is in itself, and how well it relishes when 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 189 

dished up with its proper sauces, such as plot, contri- 
vance, scheme, and confederacy, all leading on to exe- 
cution : how it possesses the human soul in all the most 
sensible parts : how it empowers mankind to sin in 
imagination, as effectually, to all future intents and 
purposes (damnation), as if he had sinned actually : 
how safe a practice it is too, as to punishment in this 
life, namely, that it empowers us to cut throats clear 
of the gallows, to slander virtue, reproach innocence, 
wound honour, and stab reputation ; and, in a word, to 
do all the wicked things in the world, out of the reach 
of the law. 

It would also require some few words to describe 
the secret operations of those nice qualities when they 
reach the human soul; how effectually they form a 
hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate 
and transform us into devils, mere human devils, as 
really devils as Satan himself, or any of his angels ; 
and that, therefore, it is not so much out of the way 
as some imagine, to say, such a man is an incarnate 
devil; for, as crime made Satan a devil, who was be- 
fore a bright immortal seraph, or angel of light, how 
much more easily may the same crime make the same 
devil, though every way meaner and more contempti- 
ble, of a man or a woman either! But this is too 
grave a subject for me at this time. 

The Devil being thus, I say, fired with rage and 
envy, in consequence of his jealousy upon the creation 
of man, his torment is increased to the highest by the 
limitation of his power, and his being forbid to act 
against mankind by force of arms ; this is, I say, part 
of his hell, which, as above, is within him, and which 
he carries with him wherever he goes ; nor is it so 
difficult to conceive of hell, or of the Devil either, 
under this just description, as it is by all the usual 
notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by 
(the old women) our instructers ; for every man may, 



190 THE MODERN 

by taking but a common view of himself, and making 
a just scrutiny into his own passions, on some of their 
particular excursions, see a hell within himself, and 
himself a mere devil as long as the inflammation lasts ; 
and that as really, and to all intents and purposes, as if 
he had the angel (Satan) before his face, in his locality 
and personality ; that is to say, all devil and monster 
in his person, and an immaterial, but intense fire 
flaming about and from within him, at all the pores of 
his body. 

The notions we receive of the Devil, as a person 
being in hell as a place, are infinitely absurd and ri- 
diculous. The first, we are certain is not true in fact, 
because he has a certain liberty, (however limited, 
that is not to the purpose,) is daily visible, and to be 
traced in his several attacks upon mankind, and has 
been so ever since his first appearance in Paradise : as 
to his corporal visibility, that is not the present 
question neither ; it is enough that we can hunt him 
by the foot, that we can follow him as hounds do a fox 
upon a hot scent : we can see him as plainly by the 
effect, by the mischief he does, and more by the mis- 
chief he puts us upon doing, I say, as plainly, as if we 
saw him by the eye. 

It is not to be doubted but the Devil can see us 
when and where we cannot see him ; and as he has a 
personality, though it be spiritous, he and his angels 
too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the world 
of spirits, and to have free access from thence to the 
regions of life, and to pass and repass in the air, as 
really, though not perceptible to us, as the spirits of 
men do, after their release from the body, pass to the 
place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them. 

If the Devil was confined to a place (Hell) as a pri- 
son, he could then have no business here ; and if we 
pretend to describe hell, as not a prison, but that the 
Devil has liberty to be there or not be there, as he 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 191 

pleased, then lie would certainly never be there, or 
hell is not such a place as we are taught to understand 
it to be. 

Indeed, according to some, hell should be a place of 
fire and torment to the souls that are cast into it, but 
not to the devils themselves ; who we make little more 
or less than keepers and turnkeys to hell, as a jail ; 
that they are sent about to bring souls thither, lock 
them in when they come, and then away upon the 
scent to fetch more. That one sort of devils are made 
to live in the world among men, and to be busy con- 
tinually debauching and deluding mankind, bringing 
them, as it were, to the gates of hell ; and then another 
sort are porters and carriers to fetch them in. 

This is, in short, little more or less than the old story 
of Pluto, of Cerberus, and of Charon ; only that our 
tale is not half so well told, nor the parts of the fable 
so well laid together. 

In all these notions of hell and devil, the torments of 
the first, and the agency of the last, tormenting, we 
meet with not one word of the main, and perhaps only, 
accent of horror which belongs to us to judge of about 
hell, I mean the absence of heaven ; expulsion and 
exclusion from the presence and face of the chief ulti- 
mate, the only eternal and sufficient Good ; and this 
loss sustained by a sordid neglect of our concern in that 
excellent part, in exchange for the most contemptible 
and justly condemned trifles, and all this eternal and 
irrecoverable ; these people tell us nothing of the eter- 
nal reproaches of conscience, the horror of desperation, 
and the anguish of a mind hopeless of ever seeing 
the glory which alone constitutes heaven, and which 
makes all other places dreadful, and even darkness 
itself. 

And this brings me directly to the point in hand, 
viz., the state of that hell which we ought to have in 
view when we speak of the Devil as in hell ; this is the 
very hell which is the torment of the Devil ; in short, 



192 THE MODERN 

the Devil is in hell, and hell is in the Devil ; he is filled 
with this unquenchable fire, he is expelled the place of 
glory, banished from the regions of light ; absence from 
the life of all beatitude is his curse, despair is the 
reigning passion in his mind ; and all the little consti- 
tuting parts of his torment, such as rage, envy, malice, 
and jealousy, are consolidated in this, to make his 
misery complete, viz., the duration of it all, the eternity 
of his condition ; that he is without hope, without re- 
demption, without recovery. 

If anything can inflame this hell, and make it hotter, 
it is this only, and this does add an inexpressible hor- 
ror to the Devil himself; namely, the seeing man (the 
only creature he hates) placed in a state of recovery, a 
glorious establishment of redemption formed for him in 
heaven, and the scheme of it perfected on earth ; by 
which this man, though even the Devil by his art may 
have deluded him, and drawn him into crime, is yet in 
a state of recovery, which the Devil is not ; and that 
it is not in his (Satan's) power to prevent it. Now take 
the Devil as he is in his own nature, angelic, a bright 
immortal seraph, heaven-born, and having tasted the 
eternal beatitude, which these are appointed to enjoy ; 
the loss of that state to himself, the possession of it 
granted to his rival, though wicked like and as himself; 
I say, take the Devil as he is, having a quick sense of 
his own perdition, and a stinging sight of his rival's fe- 
licity, it is hell enough, and more than enough, even 
for an angel to support ; nothing we can conceive of 
can be worse. 

As to any other fire than this, such and so imma- 
terially intense as to torment a spirit, which is itself 
fire also, I will not say it cannot be, because to Infinite 
everything is possible, but, I must say, I cannot con- 
ceive rightly of it. 

I will not enter here into the wisdom or reasonable- 
ness cf representing the torments of hell to be fire, and 
that fire to be a commixture of flame and sulphur; 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 193 

it has pleased God to let the horror of those eternal 
agonies about a lost heaven be laid before us by those 
similitudes or allegories which are most moving to our 
senses and to our understandings ; nor will I dispute 
the possibility, much less will I doubt but that there is 
to be a consummation of misery to all the objects of 
misery, when the Devil's kingdom in this world, ending 
with the world itself, that liberty he has now may be 
further abridged ; when he may be returned to the 
same state he was in between the time of his fall and 
the creation of the world, with perhaps some additional 
vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot de- 
scribe, for all that treason and those high crimes and 
misdemeanors which he has been guilty of here in 
his conversation with mankind. 

As his infelicity will be then consummated and com- 
pleted, so the infelicity of that part of mankind who 
are condemned with him may receive a considerable 
addition from those words in their sentence, to he tor- 
mented ivith the Devil and his angels ; for, as the ab- 
sence of the supreme Good is a complete hell, so the 
hated company of the Deceiver, who was the great 
cause of their ruin, must be a subject of additional hor- 
ror ; and they will be always saying as a Scotch gentle- 
man who died of his excesses said to the famous Dr. 

P who came to see him on his death-bed, but had 

been too much his companion in his life, 

O tu fundamenta gessisti . 

I would not treat the very subject itself with any in- 
decency, nor do I think my opinion of that hell which, 
I say, consists in the absence of him in whom is 
heaven, one jot less solemn than theirs who believe it 
all fire and brimstone ; but I must own, that to me, 
nothing can be more ridiculous than the notions that 
we entertain and fill our heads with about hell, and 
about the devils being there tormenting of souls, 
broiling them upon gridirons, hanging them up upon 

H. d. o 



194 THE MODERN 

hooks, carrying them upon their backs, and the like ; 
with the several pictures of hell, represented by a great 
mouth with horrible teeth, gaping like a cave on the 
side of a mountain; suppose that appropriated lo Satan 
in the Peak, which, indeed, is not much unlike it, with 
a stream of fire coming out of it, as there is of water, 
and smaller devils going and coming continually in and 
out, to fetch and carry souls the Lord knows whither, 
and for the Lord knows what. 

These things, however intended for terror, are in- 
deed, so ridiculous, that the Devil himself, to be sure, 
mocks at them, and a man of sense can hardly refrain 
doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not 
give offence to weaker heads. 

However, I must not compliment the brains of other 
men at the expense of my own, or talk nonsense be- 
cause they can understand no other ; I think all these 
notions and representations of hell and of the Devil to 
be as profane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no 
more to talk profanely than merrily of them. 

Let us learn to talk of these things, then, as we 
should do ; and, as we really cannot describe them to 
our reason and understanding, why should we describe 
them to our senses ? we had, I think, much better not 
describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it : the 
blessed apostle St. Paul was, as he said himself, carried 
up, or caught up, into the third heaven, yet when he 
came down again he could neither tell what he heard, 
or describe what he saw ; all he could say of it was, 
that what he heard was unutterable, and what he saw 
was inconceivable. 

It is the same thing as to the state of the Devil in 
those regions which he now possesses, and where he 
now more particularly inhabits ; my present business, 
then, is not to enter into those grave things so as to 
make them ridiculous, as I think most people do that 
talk of them ; but as the Devil, let his residence be 
where it will, has evidently free leave to come and go, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 195 

not into this world only, (I mean, the region of our at- 
mosphere,) but, for aught we know, to all the other in- 
habited worlds which God has made, wherever they 
are, and by whatsoever names they are, or may be, 
known or distinguished ; for, if he is not confined in 
one place, we have no reason to believe he is excluded 
from any place, heaven only excepted, from whence he 
was expelled for his treason and rebellion. 

His liberty, then, being thus ascertained, three 
things seem to be material for us to give an account of, 
in order to form this part of his history. 

1. What his business is on this globe of earth, which 
we vulgarly call the world ; how he acts among 
us ; what affairs mankind and he have together ; 
and how far his conduct here relates to us, and 
ours is, or may be, influenced by him. 

2. Where his principal residence is, and whether 
he has not a particular empire of his own, to 
which he retreats upon proper occasions, where 
he entertains his friends when they come under 
his particular administration, and where, when he 
gets any victory over his enemies, he carries his 
prisoners of war. 

3. What may probably be the great business this 
black emperor has at present upon his hands, 
either in this world or out of it, and by what 
agents he works. 

As these things may perhaps run promiscuously 
through the course of this whole work, and frequently 
be touched at under other branches of the Devil's history, 
so I do not propose them as heads of chapters or parti- 
cular sections, for the order of discourse, to be handled 
apart ; for, by the way, as Satan's actings have not been 
the most regular things in the world, so, in our discourse 
about him, it must not be expected that we can always 
tie ourselves down to order and regularity, either as to 
time, or place, or persons ; for Satan being hie et ubi- 

o2 



196 THE MODERN 

que, a loose, ungoverned fellow, we must be content to 
trace him where we can find him. 

It is true, in the foregoing chapter I showed you 
the Devil entered into the herd ecclesiastic, and gave 
you some account of the first successful step he took 
with mankind since the Christian epoch ; how, having 
secretly managed both temporal and spiritual power 
apart, and by themselves, he now united them, in point 
of management, and brought the church usurpation and 
the army's usurpation together : the pope to bless the 
general, in deposing and murdering his master, the 
emperor ; and the general to recognise the pope, in de- 
throning his master, Christ Jesus. 

From this time forward you are to allow the Devil 
a mystical empire in this world ; not an action of 
moment done without him, not a treason but he has a 
hand in it, not a tyrant but he prompts him, not a 

government but he has a in it ; not a fool but 

he tickles him, not a knave but he guides him ; he has 
a finger in every fraud, a key to every cabinet, from 
the divan at Constantinople to the Mississippi in 

France, and to the South- Sea cheats at ; from 

the first attack upon the Christian world, in the person 
of the Romish antichrist, down to the bull Unigenitus ; 
and from the mixture of St. Peter and Confucius in 
China, to the holy office in Spain ; and down to the 
Emlins and Dodwells of the current age. 

How he has managed, and does manage, and how in 
all probability he will manage till his kingdom shall 
come to a period, and how at last he will probably be 
managed himself, inquire within, and you shall know 
further. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 197 



CHAP. III. 

Of the manner of Satan's acting and carrying on his 
affairs in this world, and particularly of his ordinary 
workings in the dark, by possession and agitation. 

The Devil being thus reduced to act upon mankind 
by stratagem only, it remains to inquire how he per- 
forms, and which way he directs his attacks ; the 
faculties of man are a kind of a garrison in a strong 
castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under 
the command of the reasoning power of man's soul, so 
they are prescribed on the other hand, and can not sally 
out without leave ; for the governor of a fort does not 
permit his soldiers to hold any correspondence with 
the enemy, without special order and direction. Now 
the great inquiry before us is, How comes the Devil to 
a parley with us? how does he converse with our 
senses, and with the understanding? how does he 
reach us ? which way does he come at the affections ? 
and which way does he move the passions ? It is a 
little difficult to discover this treasonable correspond- 
ence, and that difficulty is indeed the Devil's advan- 
tage, and, for aught I see, the chief advantage he has 
over mankind. 

It is also a great inquiry here, whether the Devil 
knows oar thoughts or no : if I may give my opinion, 
I am with a negative ; I deny that he knows anything 
of our thoughts, except of those thoughts which he puts 
us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the 
art to inject thoughts, and to revive dormant thoughts 
in us : it is not so wild a scheme as some take it to be, 
that Mr. Milton lays down, to represent the Devil 
injecting corrupt desires and wandering thoughts into 



198 THE MODERN 

the head of Eve, by dreams, and that he brought her 
to dream whatever he put into her thoughts, by 
whispering to her vocally when she was asleep ; and 
to this end, he imagines the Devil laying himself close 
to her ear, in the shape of a toad, when she was fast 
asleep ; I say, this is not so wild a scheme, seeing even 
now, if you can whisper anything close to the ear of a 
person in a deep sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the 
person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently 
tried, the person sleeping shall dream distinctly of 
what you say to him ; nay, shall dream the very words 
you say. 

We have, then, no more to ask, but how the Devil 
can convey himself to the ear of a sleeping person : and 
it is granted then that he may have power to make us 
dream what he pleases : but this is not all, for if he can 
so forcibly, by his invisible application, cause us to 
dream what he pleases, why can he not with the same 
facility prompt our thoughts, whether sleeping or 
waking ? To dream, is nothing else but to think sleep- 
ing; and we have abundance of deep-headed gentlemen 
among us, who give us ample testimony that they dream 
waking. 

But if the Devil can prompt us to dream, that is to 
say, to think, yet if he does not know our thoughts, how 
then can he tell whether the whisper had its effect ? 
The answer is plain ; the Devil, like the angler, baits the 
hook, if the fish bite he lies ready to take the advantage; 
he whispers to the imagination, and then waits to see 
how it works ; as Naomi said to Ruth, chap. iii. 5, 18, 
Sit still, my daughter, until thou knoiv how the matter 
will fall, for the man will not be at rest until he have 
finished the thing. Thus when the Devil had whispered 
to Eve in her sleep, according to Milton, and suggested 
mischief to her imagination, he only sat still to see how 
the matter would work, for he knew if it took with her, 
he should hear more of it ; and then by finding her 
alone the next day, without her ordinary guard, her 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 199 

husband, lie presently concluded she had swallowed the 
bait, and so attacked her afresh. 

A small deal of craft, and less by far than we have 
reason to believe the Devil is master of, will serve to 
discover whether such and such thoughts, as he knows 
he has suggested, have taken place or no ; the action 
of the person presently discovers it, at least to him that 
lies always upon the watch, and has every word, every 
gesture, every step we take subsequent to his operation, 
open to him ; it may, therefore, for aught we know, be 
a great mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to 
tell our dreams to one another in the morning, after we 
have been disturbed with them in the night ; for, if the 
Devil converses with us so insensibly as some are of 
the opinion he does, that is to say, if he can hear as 
far as we can see, we may be telling our story to him 
indeed, when we think we are only talking to one 
another. 

This brings me most naturally to the important in- 
quiry, whether the Devil can walk about the world in- 
visibly or no. The truth is, this is no question to me ; 
for as I have taken away his visibility already, and have 
denied him all prescience of futurity too, and have 
proved he cannot know our thoughts, nor put any force 
upon persons or actions, if we should take away his in- 
visibility too, we should undevil him quite, to all intents 
and purposes, as to any mischief he could do ; nay, it 
would banish him the world, and he might e'en go and 
seek his fortune somewhere else; for if he could neither 
be visible or invisible, neither act in public or in 
private, he could neither have business or being in this 
sphere, nor could we be any way concerned with him. 
The Devil, therefore, most certainly has a power and 
liberty of moving about in this world, after some man- 
ner or another ; this is verified, as well by way of alle- 
gory as by way of history, in the Scripture itself; and 
as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, 
the last positively asserts it ; and, not to crowd this 



THE MODERN 



| 2(1)0 

wore with quotations from a book which we have not 
U much to do with in the Devil's story, at least not much 
Jy ftp his satisfaction, I only hint his personal appearance 
to our Saviour in the wilderness, where it is said, the 
Devil taketh him up to an exceeding high mountain; and, 
in another place, the Devil departed from him. What 
shape or figure he appeared in we do not find men- 
tioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, 
any more than I can his talking to our Saviour in the 
mouths and with the voices of the several persons who 
were under the terrible affliction of an actual posses- 
sion. 

These things leave us no room to doubt of what is 
advanced above, namely, that he (the Devil) has a cer- 
tain residence, or liberty of residing in, and moving 
about upon, the surface of this earth, as well as in the 
compass of the atmosphere, vulgarly called the air, in 
some manner or other : that is the general. 

It remains to inquire into the manner, which I re- 
solve into two kinds : 

1. Ordinary, which I suppose to be his invisible 
motions as a spirit ; under which consideration I 
suppose him to have an unconfined, unlimited, 
unrestrained liberty, as to the manner of acting ; 
and this either in persons, by possession ; or in 
things, by agitation. 

2. Extraordinary, which I understand to be his ap- 
pearances in borrowed shapes and bodies, or 
shadows rather of bodies ; assuming speech, 
figure, posture, and several powers, of which we 
can give little or no account ; in which extraordi- 
nary manner of appearances, he is either limited 
by a superior power, or limits himself politically, 
as being not the way most for his interest or pur- 
pose to act in his business, which is more effec- 
tually done in his state of obscurity. 

Hence we must suppose the Devil has it very much 
in his own choice, whether to act in one capacity, or in 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 201 

the other, or in both ; that is to say, of appearing and 
not appearing, as he finds for his purpose : in this 
state of invisibility, and under the operation of these 
powers and liberties, he performs all his functions and 
offices, as Devil, as prince of darkness, as god of this 
world, as tempter, accuser, deceiver, and all whatso- 
ever other names of office or titles of honour he is 
known by. 

Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little 
limited state of action, he is well called the god of this 
world, for he has very much of the attribute of omni- 
presence, and may be said, either by himself or his 
agents, to be everywhere, and see everything ; that is 
to say, everything that is visible ; for I cannot allow 
him any share of omniscience at all. 

That he ranges about everywhere, is with us, and 
sometimes in us, sees when he is not seen, hears when 
he is not heard, comes in without leave, and goes out 
without noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out ; that 
when he runs from us we cannot catch him, and when 
he runs after us we cannot escape him, is seen when 
he is not known, and is known when he is not seen ; 
all these things, and more, we have knowledge enough 
about to convince us of the truth of them ; so that, as 
I have said above, he is certainly walking to and fro 
through the earth, &c, after some manner or other, 
and in some figure or other, visible or invisible, as he 
finds occasion. Now in order to make our history of 
him complete, the next question before us is, how, and 
in what manner, he acts with mankind : how his king- 
dom is carried on, and by what methods he does his 
business, for he certainly has a great deal of business 
to do ; he is not an idle spectator, nor is he walking 
about incognito, and clothed in mist and darkness, 
purely in kindness to us, that we should not be fright- 
ened at him ; but it is in policy, that he may act un- 
discovered, that he may see and not be seen, may play 
his game in the dark, and not be detected in his 



202 THE MODERN 

roguery ; that he may prompt mischief, raise tempests, 
blow up coals, kindle strife, embroil nations, use instru- 
ments, and not be known to have his hand in anything, 
when at the same time he really has a hand in every- 
thing. 

Some are of opinion, and I among the rest, that 
if the Devil was personally and visibly present among 
us, and we conversed with him face to face, we should 
be so familiar with him in a little time, that his ugly 
figure would not affect us at all, that his terrors would 
not frighten us, or that we should any more trouble 
ourselves about him than we did with the last great 
comet in 1678, which appeared so long and so con- 
stantly without any particular known event, that at 
last we took no more notice of it than of the other 
ordinary stars, which had appeared before we or our 
ancestors were born. 

Nor, indeed, should we have much reason to be 
frightened at him, or at least none of those silly things 
could be said of him which we now amuse ourselves 
about, and by which we set him up like a scarecrow to 
frighten children and old women, to fill up old stories, 
make songs and ballads, and, in a word, carry on the 
low-prized buffoonery of the common people ; we 
should either see him in his angelic form, as he was 
from the original, or if he has any deformities entailed 
upon him by the supreme sentence, and in justice to 
the deformity of his crime, they would be of a superior 
nature, and fitted more for our contempt, as well as 
horror, than those weak-fancied trifles contrived by 
our ancient devil-raisers and devil-makers, to feed the 
wayward fancies of old witches and sorcerers, who 
cheated the ignorant world with a devil of their own 
making, set forth, in terrorem, with bat's wings, horns, 
cloven foot, long tail, forked tongue, and the like. 

In the next place, be his frightful figure what it 
would, and his legions as numerous as the host of 
heaven, we should see him still, as the prince of devils, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 203 

though monstrous as a dragon, flaming as a comet, tall 
as a mountain, yet dragging his chain after him equal 
to the utmost of his supposed strength ; always in 
custody of his jailers the angels, his power over- 
powered, his rage cowed and abated, or at least awed 
and under correction, limited and restrained ; in a 
word, we should see him a vanquished slave, his spirit 
broken, his malice, though not abated, yet handcuffed 
and overpowered, and he not able to work anything 
against us by force ; so that he would be to us but like 
the lions in the Tower, encaged and locked up, unable 
to do the hurt he wishes to do and that we fear, or 
indeed any hurt at all. 

From hence it is evident, that it is not his business 
to be public, or to walk up and down in the world 
visibly, and in his own shape ; his affairs require a 
quite different management, as might be made ap- 
parent from the nature of things, and the manner of 
our actings, as men, either with ourselves or to one 
another. 

Nor could he be serviceable in his generation, as 
a public person, as now he is; or answer the end of his 
party who employ him, and who, if he was to do their 
business in public as he does in private, would not be 
able to employ him at all. 

As in our modern meetings for the propagation of 
impudence and other virtues, there would be no enter- 
tainment, and no improvement for the good of the age, 
if the people did not all appear in mask, and concealed 
from the common observation ; so neither could Satan 
(from whose management those more happy assemblies 
are taken as copies of a glorious original) perform the 
usual and necessary business of his profession, if he did 
not appear wholly in covert and under needful dis- 
guises. How, but for the convenience of his habit, 
could he cast himself into so many shapes, act on so 
many different scenes, and turn so many wheels of 



204 THE MODERN 

state in the world, as he has done ? as a mere professed 
devil he could do nothing 

Had he been obliged always to act the mere devil in 
his own clothes, and with his own shape appearing up- 
permost in all cases and places, he could never have 
preached in so many pulpits, presided in so many 
councils, voted in so many committees, sat in so many 
courts, and influenced so many parties and factions in 
church and state, as we have reason to believe he has 
done in our nation, and in our memories too, as well as 
in other nations and in more ancient times. The share 
Satan has had in all the weighty confusions of the 
times, ever since the first ages of Christianity in the 
world, has been carried on with so much secrecy, and 
so much with an air of cabal and intrigue, that nothing 
can have been managed more subtly and closely ; and 
in the same manner has he acted in our times, in order 
to conceal his interest, and conceal the influence he 
has had in the councils of the world. 

Had it been possible for him to have raised the 
flames of rebellion and war so often in this nation, as 
he certainly has done? could he have agitated the 
parties on both sides, and inflamed the spirits of three 
nations, if he had appeared in his own dress, a mere 
naked devil ? It is not the Devil as a devil, that does 
the mischief, but the Devil in masquerade, Satan in 
full disguise, and acting at the head of civil confusion 
and distraction. 

If history may be credited, the French court at the 
time of our old confusions was made the scene of 
Satan's politics, and prompted both parties in England 
and in Scotland also to quarrel ; and how was it done ? 
will any man offer to scandalize the Devil so much as 
to say, or so much as to suggest, that Satan had no 
hand in it all ? did not the Devil, by the agency of 
cardinal Richelieu, send four hundred thousand crowns 
at one time, and six hundred thousand at another, to 



HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 205 

the Scots, to raise an army and march boldly into 
England ? and did not the same Devil, at the same 
time, by other agents, remit eight hundred thousand 
crowns to the other party, in order to raise an army to 
fall upon the Scots ? nay, did not the Devil with the same 
subtlety send down the archbishop's order to impose 
the service-book upon the people in Scotland, and at 
the same time raise a mob against it, in the great 
church (at St. Giles's) ? nay, did not he actually, in 
the person of an old woman (his favourite instrument), 
throw the three-legged stool at the service-book, and 
animate the zealous people to take up arms for religion, 
and turn rebels for God's sake ? 

All these happy and successful undertakings, though 
it is no more to be doubted they were done by the 
agency of Satan, and in a very surprising manner too, 
yet were all done in secret, by what 1 call possession 
and injection, and by the agency and contrivance of 
such instruments, or by the Devil in the disguise of 
such servants, as he found out fitted to be employed in 
his work, and who he took a more effectual care in 
concealing of. 

But we shall have occasion to touch all this part 
over again, when we come to discourse of the particu- 
lar habits and disguises which the Devil has made use 
of all along in the world, the better to cover his 
actions, and to conceal his being concerned in them. 

In the mean time, the cunning or artifice the 
Devil makes use of in all these things, is, in itself, very 
considerable ; it is an old practice of his using, and he 
has gone on in divers measures, for the better con- 
cealing himself in it ; which measures, though he 
varies sometimes, as his extraordinary affairs require, 
yet they are in all ages much the same, and have the 
same tendency ; namely, that he may get all his busi- 
ness carried on by the instrumentality of fools ; that 
he may make mankind agents in their own destruc- 
tion, and that he may have all his work done in such 



206 THE MODERN 

a manner as that he may seem to have no hand in it ; 
nay, he contrives so well, that the very name, Devil, is 
put upon his opposite party, and the scandal of the 
black agent lies all upon them. 

In order, then, to look a little into his conduct, let 
us inquire into the common mistakes about him, see 
what use is made of them to his advantage, and how 
far mankind is imposed upon in those particulars, and 
to what purpose. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 207 



CHAP. IV. 



Of Satan's agents or missionaries, and their actings 
upon and in the minds of men in his name. 

Infinite advantages attend the Devil in his retired 
government, as they respect the management of his 
interests, and the carrying on his absolute monarchy 
in the world ; particularly as it gives him room to act 
by the agency of his inferior ministers and messengers, 
called on many occasions his angels, of whom he has 
an innumerable multitude at his command, enough, 
for aught we know, to spare one to attend every man 
and woman now alive in the world ; and of whom, if 
we may believe our second-sight Christians, the air is 
always as full as a beam of the evening sun is of 
insects, where they are ever ready for business, and to 
go and come as their great governor issues out orders 
for their directions. 

These, as they are all of the same spiritous quality 
with himself, and consequently invisible like him, ex- 
cept as above, are ready upon all occasions to be sent 
to and into any such person, and for such purposes, 
superior limitations only excepted, as the grand direc- 
tor of devils (the Devil, properly so called) guides 
them ; and be the subject or the object what it will, 
that is to say, be the person they are sent to, or into, 
as above, who it will, and the business the messenger 
is to do, what it will, they are sufficiently qualified ; for 
this is a particular to Satan's messengers or agents, 
that they are not like us human devils here in the 
world, some bred up one way, some another; some of 
one trade, some of another; and consequently some fit 
for some business, some for another; some good for 



208 THE MODERN 

something, and some good for nothing ; but his people 
are every one fit for everything, can find their way 
everywhere, and are a match for everybody they are 
sent to ; in a word, they are no foolish devils, they 
are all fully qualified for their employment, fit for any- 
thing he sets them about, and very seldom mistake 
their errand, or fail in the business they are sent 
to do. 

Nor is it strange at all, that the Devil should have 
such a numberless train of deputy devils to act under 
him ; for it must be acknowledged he has a great deal 
of business upon his hands, a vast deal of work to do, 
abundance of public affairs under his direction, and an 
infinite variety of particular cases always before him ; 
for example : 

How many governments in the world are wholly in 
his administration ? how many divans and great coun- 
cils under his direction? nay, I believe, it would be 
hard to prove that there is or has been one council of 
state in the world for many hundred years past, down 
to the year 1713, (we do not pretend to come nearer 
home,) where the Devil, by himself or his agents, in one 
shape or another, has not sat as a member, if not taken 
the chair. 

And though some learned authors may dispute this 
point with me, by giving some examples where the 
councils of princes have been acted by a better hand, 
and where things have been carried against Satan's 
interest, and even to his great mortification, it amounts 
to no more than this ; namely, that in such cases the 
Devil has been outvoted ; but it does not argue but 
he might have been present there, and have pushed 
his interest as far as he could, only that he had not 
the success he expected ; for I do not pretend to say 
that he has never been disappointed : but those ex- 
amples are so rare, and of so small signification, that 
when I come to the particulars, as I shall do in the 
sequel of this history, you will find them hardly worth 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 209 

naming ; and that, take it one time with another, the 
Devil has met with such a series of success in all his 
affairs, and has so seldom been balked ; and where he 
has met with a little check in his politics, has, not- 
withstanding, so soon and so easily recovered himself, 
regained his lost ground, or replaced himself in 
another country when he has been supplanted in one, 
that his empire is far from being lessened in the 
world, for the last thousand years of the Christian esta- 
blishment. 

Suppose we take an observation from the beginning 
of Luther, or from the year 1 420, and call the Reform- 
ation a blow to the Devil's kingdom, which, before 
that, was come to such a height in Christendom, that it 
is a question not yet thoroughly decided, whether that 
medley of superstition and horrible heresies, that mass 
of enthusiasm and idols, called the catholic hierarchy, 
was a church of God, or a church of the Devil; 
whether it was an assembly of saints, or a synagogue 
of Satan: I say, take that time to be the epoch of 
Satan's declension, and of Lucifer's falling from heaven, 
that is, from the top of his terrestrial glory, yet whether 
he did not gain in the defection of the Greek church, 
about that time and since, as much as he lost in the 
reformation of the Roman, is what authors are not yet 
agreed about, not reckoning what he has regained 
since of the ground which he had lost even by the Re- 
formation, viz., the countries of the duke of Savoy's 
dominion, where the Reformation is almost eaten out 
by persecution ; the whole Valtoline, and some adja- 
cent countries ; the whole kingdom of Poland, and al- 
most all Hungary ; for, since the last war, the Reform- 
ation, as it were, lies gasping for breath, and expiring 
in that country ; also several large provinces in Ger- 
many, as Austria, Carinthia, and the whole kingdom 
of Bohemia, where the Reformation, once powerfully 
planted, received its death's wound at the battle of 
Prague, ann. 1627, and languished but a very little 
h. d. p 



210 THE MODERN 

while, died, and was buried, and good king popery 
reigned in its stead. 

To these countries, thus regained to Satan's infernal 
empire, let us add his modern conquests, and the en- 
croachments he has made upon the Reformation in the 
present age, which are, however light we make of them, 
very considerable ; viz., the electorate of the Rhine and 
the Palatinate, the one fallen to the house of Bavaria, 
and the other to that of Neuburg, both popish ; the 
duchy of Deux Ponts, fallen just now to a popish 
branch ; the whole electorate of Saxony, fallen under 
the power of popish government, by the apostacy of 
their princes, and more likely to follow the fate of 
Bohemia, whenever the diligent Devil can bring his 
new project in Poland to bear, as it is more than 
probable he will do some time or other, by the growing 
zeal as well as power of (that house of bigots) the house 
of A . 

But to sum up the dull story ; we must add in the 
roll of the Devil's conquests, the whole kingdom of 
France, where we have in one year seen, to the immor- 
tal glory of the Devil's politics, that his measures have 
prevailed to the total extirpation of the protestant 
churches, without a war ; and that interest, which for 
two hundred years had supported itself in spite of 
persecutions, massacres, five civil wars, and innumer- 
able battles and slaughters, at last received its mortal 
wound from its own champion Henry IV., and sank 
into utter oblivion, by Satan's most exquisite manage- 
ment, under the agency of his two prime ministers 
cardinal Richelieu and Lewis XIV., whom he en- 
tirely possessed. 

Thus far we have a melancholy view of the Devil's 
new conquests, and the ground he has regained upon 
the Reformation, in which his secret management has 
been so exquisite, and his politics so good, that could 
he bring but one thing to pass, which, by his own 
former mistake (for the Devil is not infallible), he has 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 211 

rendered impossible, he would bring the protestant 
interest so near its ruin, that heaven would be, as it 
were, put to the necessity of working by miracle to 
prevent it ; the case is thus : 

Ancient historians tell us, and from good authority, 
that the Devil, finding it for his interest to bring his 
favourite Mahomet upon the stage, and spread the 
victorious half-moon upon the ruin of the cross, having 
with great success raised first the Saracen empire, and 
then the Turkish, to such a height, as that the name of 
Christian seemed to be extirpated in those two 
quarters of the world, which were then not the greatest 
only, but by far the most powerful, I mean Asia and 
Africa ; having totally laid waste all those ancient and 
flourishing churches of Africa, the labours of St. 
Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Augustine, and six hundred 
and seventy Christian bishops and fathers, who govern- 
ed there at once, also all the churches of Smyrna, 
Philadelphia, Ephesus, Sardis, Antioch, Laodicea, and 
innumerable others in Pontus, Bithynia, and the 
provinces of the Lesser Asia. 

The Devil having, I say, finished these conquests so 
much to his satisfaction, began to turn his eyes north- 
ward, and though he had a considerable interest in the 
whore of Babylon, and had brought his power, by the 
subjection of the Roman hierarchy, to a great height, 
yet finding the interest of Mahomet most suitable to 
his devilish purposes, as most adapted to the destruc- 
tion of mankind, and laying waste the world, he resolved 
to espouse the growing power of the Turk, and bring 
him in upon Europe like a deluge. 

In order to this, and to make way for an easy con- 
quest, like a true devil, he worked under ground, and 
sapped the foundation of the Christian power by 
sowing discord among the reigning princes of Europe ; 
that so, envying one another, they might be content to 
stand still and look on while the Turk devoured them 
one by one, and at last might swallow them all up. 

p2 



212 THE MODERN 

This devilish policy took, to his heart's content : the 
Christian princes stood still, stupid, dosing, and uncon- 
cerned, till the Turk conquered Thrace, overrun Servia, 
Macedonia, Bulgaria, and all the remains of the Grecian 
empire, and at last the imperial city of Constantinople 
itself. 

Finding this politic method so well answer his ends, 
the Devil, who always improves upon the success of 
his own experiments, resolved from that time to lay a 
foundation for the making those divisions and jealousies 
of the Christian princes immortal ; whereas they were 
at first only personal, and founded in private quarrels 
between the princes respectively ; such as emulation of 
one another's glory, envy at the extraordinary valour 
or other merit of this or that leader, or revenge of some 
little affront ; for which, notwithstanding, so great was 
the piety of Christian princes in those days, that they 
made no scruple to sacrifice whole armies, yea, nations, 
to their piques and private quarrels, a certain sign 
whose management they were under. 

These being the causes by which the Devil first 
sowed the seeds of mischief among them, and the 
success so well answering his design, he could not but 
wish to have the same advantage always ready at his 
hand : and therefore he resolved to order it so, that 
these divisions, which, however useful to him, were only 
personal, and consequently temporary, like an annual 
in the garden, which must be raised anew every season, 
might for the future be national, and consequently 
durable and immortal. 

To this end it was necessary to lay the foundation of 
eternal feud, not in the humours and passions of men 
only, but in the interests of nations : the way to do this 
was to form and state the dominion of those princes, by 
such a plan, drawn in hell, and laid out from a scheme 
truly political, of which the Devil was chief engineer, 
that the divisions should always remain; being made a 
natural consequence of the situation of the country, the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 213 

temper of their people, the nature of their commerce, 
the climate, the manner of living, or something which 
should for ever render it impossible for them to unite. 

This, I say, was a scheme truly infernal, in which 
the Devil was as certainly the principal operator, (to 
illustrate great things by small,) as ever John of Ley den 

was of the high Dutch rebellion, or sir John B 1 of 

the late project, called the South-sea stock. Nor did 
this contrivance of the Devil at all dishonour its author, 
or the success appear unworthy of the undertaker ; for 
we see it not only answer the end, and made the Turk 
victorious at the same time, and formidable to Europe 
ever after, but it works to this day, the foundation of 
the divisions remains in all the several nations, and 
that to such a degree that it is impossible they should 
unite. 

This is what I hinted before, in which the Devil was 
mistaken, and is another instance that he knows 
nothing of what is to come ; for this very foundation of 
immortal jealousy and discord between the several 
nations of Spain, France, Germany, and others, which 
the Devil himself with so much policy contrived, and 
which served his interests so long, is now the only 
obstruction to his designs, and prevents the entire ruin 
of the Reformation ; for though the reformed countries 
are very powerful, and some of them, as Great Britain 
and Prussia in particular, more powerful than ever, 
yet it cannot be said that the protestant interests in 
general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they 
were in 1632, under the victorious arms of the Swede; 
on the other hand, were it possible that the popish 
powers, to wit, of France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and 
Poland, which are entirely popish, could heartily unite 
their interests, and should join their powers to attack 
the protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, 
if not impossible, to defend themselves. 

But as fatal as such an union of the popish powers 
would be, and as useful as it would be to the Devil's 



214 THE MODERN 

cause at this time, not the Devil with all his angels are 
able to bring it to pass ; no, not with all his craft and 
cunning ; he divided them, but he cannot unite them ; 
so that, even just as it is with men, so it is with devils, 
they may do in an hour what they cannot undo in an age. 

This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians 
among us, who cry out of the danger of a religious war 
in Europe, and what terrible things will happen when 
France, and Spain, and Germany, and Italy, and 
Poland, shall all unite ; let this answer satisfy them, 
the Devil himself can never make France and Spain, 
or France and the emperor unite ; jarring humours 
may be reconciled, but jarring interests never can i 
they may unite so as to make a peace, though that can 
hardly be long, but never so as to make conquests 
together ; they are too much afraid of one another, for 
one to bear that any addition of strength should come 
to the other. But this is a digression. We shall find 
the Devil mistaken and disappointed too on several 
other occasions, as we go along. 

I return to Satan's interest in the several govern- 
ments and nations, by virtue of his invisibility, and 
which he carries on by possession ; it is by this invisi- 
bility that he presides in all the councils of foreign 
powers, (for we never mean our own, that we always 
premise;) and what though it is alleged by the critics, 
that he does not preside, because there is always a 
president ? I say, if he is not in the president's chair, 
yet if he be in the president himself, the difference is 
not much ; and if he does not vote as a councillor, if 
he votes in the councillor, it is much the same ; and 
here, as it was in the story of Ahab, the king of Israel, 
as he was a lying spirit in the mouths of all his pro- 
phets, so we find him a spirit of some particular evil 
quality or other, in all the transactions and transactors 
on that stage of life we call the state. 

Thus he was a dissembling spirit in Charles IX., a 
turbulent spirit in Charles V., emperors; a bigoted 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 215 

spirit of fire and faggot in our queen Mary ; an apostate 
spirit in Henry IV. ; a cruel spirit in Peter of Castile ; 
a revengeful spirit in Ferdinand II. ; a Phaeton in 
Lewis XIV. ; a Sardanapalus in C II. 

In the great men of the world, take them a degree 
lower than the class of crowned heads, he has the same 
secret influence ; and hence it comes to pass, that the 
greatest heroes, and men of the highest character for 
achievements of glory, either by their virtue or valour, 
however they have been crowned with victories, and 
elevated by human tongues, whatever the most con- 
summate virtues or good qualities they have been 
known by, yet they have always had some devil or 
other in them, to preserve Satan's claim to them unin 
terrupted, and prevent their escape out of his hands ; 
thus we have seen a bloody devil in a D'Alva ; a pro- 
fligate devil in a Buckingham ; a lying, artful, or politic 
devil in a Richelieu ; a treacherous devil in a Mazarin ; 
a cruel, merciless devil in a Cortez ; a debauched devil 
in an Eugene ; a conjuring devil in a Luxemburg ; 

and a covetous devil in a M h : in a word, 

tell me the man, I tell you the spirit that reigned in 
him. 

Nor does he thus carry on this secret management, 
by possession, in men of the first magnitude only, but 
have we not had evidences of it among ourselves ? how 
has he been a lying spirit in the mouths of our pro- 
phets, a factious spirit in the heads of our politicians ; 

a profuse devil in a B s ; a corrupt devil in 

M ; a proud spirit in my lord Plausible ; a bully- 
ing spirit in my lord Bugbear ; a talkative spirit in his 
grace the d . . . of Rattle-hall ; a scribbling spirit in my 
lord H ....... ; a runaway spirit in my lord Frightful ; 

and so through a long roll of heroes, whose exceeding, 
and particular qualifications, proclaim loudly what 
handle the Devil took them by, and how fast he held 
them ; for these were all men of ancient fame, I hope 
you know that. 



216 THE MODERN 

From men of figure, we descend to the mob, and it 
is there the same thing ; possession, like the plague, is 
morbus pleb eel ; not a family, but he is a spirit of strife 
and contention among them ; not a man, but he has a 
part in him ; he is a drunken devil in one, a whoring 
devil in another, a thieving devil in a third, a lying 
devil in the fourth, and so on to a thousand, and a 
hundred thousand, ad infinitum. 

Nay, even the ladies have their share in the posses- 
sion ; and if they have not the Devil in their heads or 
in their tails, in their faces or their tongues, it must 
be some poor despicable she-devil, that Satan did not 
think it worth his while to meddle with ; and the 
number of those that are below his operation, I doubt 
is very small. But that part I have much more to say 
to in its place. 

From degrees of persons to professions and employ- 
ments, it is the same ; we find the Devil is a true 
posture-master, he assumes any dress, appears in any 
shape, counterfeits every voice, acts upon every stage ; 
here he wears a gown, there a long robe ; here he 
wears the jack-boots, there the small-sword ; is here 
an enthusiast, there a buffoon ; on this side he acts the 
mountebank, on that side the merry-andrew ; nothing 
comes amiss to him, from the Great Mogul, to the 
scaramouch ; the Devil is in them, more or less, and 
plays his game so well, that he makes sure work with 
them all: he knows were the common foibles lies, 
which is universal passion, what handle to take hold 
of every man by, and how to cultivate his interest, so 
as not to fail of his end, or mistake the means. 

How, then, can it be denied, but that his acting 
thus in tenebris, and keeping out of the sight of the 
world, is abundantly his interest, and that he could 
do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other 
method ? 

What would his public appearance have signified ? 
who would have entertained him in his own proper 



HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 217 

shape and person ? even B. . . . B himself, though 

all the world knows him to have a foolish devil in him, 
would not have been fool enough to have taken him 
into his service, if he had known him ; and my lord 
Simpleton, also, who Satan has set up for a cunning fool, 
seems to have it sit much better upon him, now he 
passes for a fool of art, than it would have done if the 
naked devil had come and challenged him for a fool in 
nature. 

Infinite variety illustrate the Devil's reign among 
the sons of men, all which he manages with admirable 
dexterity, and a sleight particular to himself, by the 
mere advantage of his present concealed situation, and 
which, had he been obliged to have appeared in public, 
had been all lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, 
or, at least, of nothing more than the other ordinary 
politicians of wickedness could have done without him. 

Now, authors are much divided as to the manner 
how the Devil manages his proper instruments for mis- 
chief; for Satan has a great many agents in the dark, 
who neither have the Devil in them, nor are they much 
acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them ; 
whether of their folly, or of that other frailty called 
wit, it is all one, he makes them do his work when they 
think they are doing their own ; nay, so cunning is he 
in his guiding the weak part of the world, that even when 
they think they are serving God, they are doing no- 
thing less or more than serving the Devil ; nay, it is 
some of the nicest part of his operation to make them 
believe they are serving God when they do his work. 
Thus, those who the Scripture foretold should per- 
secute Christ's church in the latter days, were to think 
they did God good service ; thus the Inquisition, for 
example, it may be, at this time, in all the acts of 
Christian cruelty which they are so famous for, if any 
of them are ignorant enough not to know that they 
are devils incarnate, they may, for aught we know, go 
on for God's sake ; torture, murder, starve to death, 



218 THE MODERN 

mangle, and macerate, and all for God, and God's 
catholic church ; and it is certainly the Devil's master- 
piece to bring mankind to such a perfection of devilism 
as that of the Inquisition is, for, if the Devil had not 
been in them, could they christen such a hell-fire judi- 
cature as the Inquisition is by the name of the Holy 
Office ? And so in paganism ; how could so many na- 
tions among the poor Indians offer human sacrifices to 
their idols, and murder thousands of men, women, and 
children, to appease this god of the air when he is 
angry, if the Devil did not act in them under the visor 
of devotion ? 

But we need not go to America, or to the Inquisition, 
nor to paganism, or to popery either, to look for people 
that are sacrificing ■ to the Devil, or that give their 
peace-offerings to him while they are offered upon 
God's altar ; are not our churches (aye, and meeting- 
houses, too, as much as they pretend to be more sanc- 
tified than their neighbours) full of Devil- worshippers ? 
where do his devotees gratulate one another, and con- 
gratulate him, more than at church ? where, while they 
hold up their hands, and turn up their eyes towards 
heaven, they make all their vows to Satan, or, at least, 
to the fair devils, his representatives, which I shall 
speak of in their place. 

Do not the sons of God make assignations with the 
daughters of men in the very house of worship ? do 
they not talk to them in the language of the eyes ? 
and what is at the bottom of it, while one eye is upon 
the prayer-book, and the other adjusting their dress? 
are they not sacrificing to Venus and Mercury, nay, 
and to the very Devil they dress at ? 

Let any man impartially survey the church gestures, 
the air, the postures, and the behaviour ; let him keep 
an exact roll, and if I do not show him two Devil-wor- 
shippers for one true saint, then the word saint must 
have another signification than I ever yet understood 
it by. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 219 

The church, as a place, is the receptacle of the dead, 
as well as the assembly of the living ; what relates to 
those below, I doubt Satan, if he would be so kind, 
could give a better account of than I can ; but as to 
the superficies, I pretend to so much penetration as to 
tell you, that there are more spectres, more apparitions 
always there, than you, that know nothing of the 
matter, may be aware of. 

I happened to be at an eminent place of God's most 
devout worship the other day, with a gentleman of my 
acquaintance, who, I observed, minded very little the 
business he ought to come about ; first I saw him 
always busy staring about him, and bowing this way 
and that way; nay, he made two or three bows and 
scrapes when he was repeating the responses to the Ten 
Commandments, and, I assure you, he made it corre- 
spond strangely, so that the harmony was not so broken 
in upon as you would expect it should ; thus : Lord — 
and a bow to a fine lady, just come up to her seat — 
have mercy upon us ; — three bows to a throng of ladies 
that came into the next pew altogether — and incline — 

then stopped to make a great scrape to my lord , 

— our hearts — -just then the hearts of all the church 
were gone off from the subject, for the response was 
over, so he huddled up the rest in whisper, for God 
almighty could hear him well enough, he said, nay, as 
well as if he had spoken as loud as his neighbours 
did. 

After we were come home, I asked him what he 
meant by all this, and what he thought of it. 

How could I help it? said he; I must not be rude. 
What? says I; rude to who ? 

Why, says he, there came in so many she-devils, I 
could not help it. 

What, said I, could you not help bowing when you 
were saying your prayers ? 

O, sir, says he, the ladies would have thought I had 
slighted them ; I could not avoid it. 



220 THE MODERN 

Ladies! said I, I thought you called them devils just 
now. 

Ay, ay, devils, said he, little charming devils ; but I 
must not be rude to them, however. 

Very well, said I, then you would be rude to God 
a'mighty, because you could not be rude to the Devil ? 

Why, that is true, said he ; but what can we do ? 
there is no going to church, as the case stands now, 
if we must not worship the Devil a little between 
whiles. 

This is the case, indeed, and Satan carries his point 
on every hand ; for if the fair-speaking world, and the 
fair-looking world, are generally devils, that is to say, 
are in his management, we are sure the foul-speaking 
and the foul-doing world are all on his side ; and you 
have then only the fair-doing part of the world that are 
out of his class, and when we speak of them, O, how 
few ! 

But I return to the Devil's managing our wicked 
part, for this he does with most exquisite subtlety ; and 
this is one part of it, viz., he thrusts our vices into our 
virtues, by which he mixes the clean and the unclean, 
and thus by the corruption of the one poisons and de- 
bauches the other ; so that the slave he governs cannot 
account for his own common actions, and is fain to be 
obliged to his Maker to accept of the heart without the 
hands and feet ; to take, as we vulgarly express it, the 
will for the deed, and if heaven was not so good to 
come into that half-in-half service, I do not see but the 
Devil would carry away all his servants. Here, indeed, 
I should enter into a long detail of involuntary wicked- 
ness, which, in short, is neither more or less than the 
Devil in everybody, ay, in every one of you, our go- 
vernors excepted, take it as you please. 

What is our language when we look back with re- 
flection and reproach on past follies ? I think I was 
bewitched, I was possessed; certainly; the Devil was in 
me, or else I had never been such a sot. Devil in you 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 221 

sir ! ay, who doubts it ? you may be sure the Devil was 
in you, and there he is still, and next time he can catch 
you in the same snare, you will be just the same sot 
that you say you were before. 

In short, the Devil is too cunning for us, and ma- 
nages us his own way ; he governs the vices of men 
by his own methods ; though every crime will not 
make a man a devil, yet it must be owned that every 
crime puts the criminal in some measure into the 
Devil's power, gives him a title to the man, and he 
treats him magisterially ever after. 

Some tell us every single man, every individual ,has a 
devil attending him, to execute the orders of the (grand 
seignior) devil of the whole clan; that this attending evil 
angel, for so he is called, sees every step you take, is 
with you in every action, prompts you to every mis- 
chief, and leaves you to do everything that is perni- 
cious to yourself; they also allege that there is a good 
spirit which attends him too, which latter is always ac- 
cessary to everything that we do that is good, and re- 
luctant to evil; if this is true, how comes it to pass 
that those two opposite spirits do not quarrel about 
it when they are pressing us to contrary actions, 
one good and the other evil ? and why does the evil 
tempting spirit so often prevail ? Instead of answering 
this difficult question, I shall only tell you, as to this 
story of good and evil angels attending every particular 
person, it is a good allegory, indeed, to represent the 
struggle in the mind of man between good and evil 
inclinations ; but as to the rest, the best thing I can 
say of it is, that I think it is a fib. 

But to take things as they are, and only talk by way 
of natural consequence, (for to argue from nature is 
certainly the best way to find out the Devil's story,) if 
there are good and evil spirits attending us, that is to 
say, a good angel and a devil, then it is no unjust re- 
proach upon anybody to say, when they follow the 
dictates of the latter, the Devil is in them ; or they are 



222 THE MODERN 

devils ; nay, I must carry it farther still, namely, that 
as the generality and greatest number of people do 
follow and obey the evil spirit and not the good, and 
that the predominate power is allowed to be the nomi- 
nating power, you must then allow that, in short, the 
greater part of mankind has the Devil in them, and so 
I come to my text : 

To this purpose give me leave to borrow a few lines 
of a friend on this very part of the Devil's manage- 
ment. 

To places and persons he suits his disguises, 

And dresses up all his banditti, 
Who, as pickpockets flock to a country assizes, 

Crowd up to the court and the city. 

They're at every elbow and every ear, 

And ready at every call, Sir ; 
The vigilant scout plants his agents about, 

And has something to do with us all, Sir. 

In some he has part, and in some he's the whole, 
And of some (like the vicar of Baddow), 

It can neither be said they have body or soul, 
But only are devils in shadow. 

The pretty and witty are devils in mask, 

The beauties are mere apparitions ; 
The homely alone by their faces are known, 

And the good by their ugly conditions. 

The beaus walk about like the shadows of men, 
And wherever he leads 'em they follow, 

But take 'em and shake 'em, there's not one in ten 
But's as light as a feather, and hollow. 

Thus all his affairs he drives on in disguise, 
And he tickles mankind with a feather : 

Creeps in at our ears, and looks out at our eyes, 
And jumbles our senses together. 






HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 223 

He raises the vapours, and prompts the desires, 
And to ev'ry dark deed holds the candle ; 

The passions inflames and the appetite fires ; 
And takes ev'rything by the right handle. 

Thus he walks up and down in complete masquerade, 

And with every company mixes, 
Sells in every shop, works at every trade. 

And ev'rything doubtful perplexes. 

How Satan comes by this governing influence in the 
minds and upon the actions of men, is a question I am 
not yet come to, nor indeed does it so particularly be- 
long to the Devil's history ; it seems rather a polemic, 
so it may pass at school among the metaphysics, and 
puzzle the heads of our masters ; wherefore I think to 
write to the learned Dr. B. . . . about it, imploring his 
most sublime haughtiness, that when his other more 
momentous avocations of pedantry and pedagogism will 
give him an interval from wrath and contention, he will 
set apart a moment to consider human nature devilized, 
and give us a mathematical, anatomical description of 
it ; with a map of Satan's kingdom in the microcosm 
of mankind, and such other illuminations as to him 

and his contemporaries and &c, in their 

great wisdom shall seem meet. 



224 THE MODERN 



CHAP. V. 

Of the DeviVs management in the pagan hierarchy 
by omens, entrails, augurs, oracles, and such-like 
pageantry of hell ; and how they went off the stage 
at last, by the introduction of true religion. 

I have adjourned, not finished my account of the 
Devil's secret management by possession, and shall re- 
assume it, in its place ; but I must take leave to 
mention some other parts of his retired scheme, by 
which he has hitherto managed mankind, and the first 
of these is by that fraud of all frauds, called oracle. 

Here his trumpet yielded an uncertain sound for 
some ages, and like what he was, and according to 
what he practised from the beginning, he delivered out 
falsehood and delusion by retail : the priests of Apollo 
acted this farce for him to a great nicety at Delphos ; 
there were divers others at the same time, and some, 
which to give the Devil his due, he had very little 
hand in, as we shall see presently. 

There were also some smaller, some greater, some 
more, some less famous places where those oracles 
were seated, and audience given to the inquirers, in 
all which the Devil, or somebody for him, permissu 
superiorum, for either vindictive or other hidden ends 
and purposes, was allowed to make at least a pretension 
to the knowledge of things to come ; but, as public 
cheats generally do, they acted in masquerade, and 
gave such uncertain and inconsistent responses, that 
they were obliged to use the utmost art to reconcile 
events to the prediction, even after things were come 
to pass. 

Here the Devil was a lying spirit, in a particular 






HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 225 

and extraordinary manner, in the mouths of all the 
prophets ; and yet he had the cunning to express him- 
self so, that whatever happened, the oracle was sup- 
posed to have meant as it fell out ; and so all their 
auguries, omens, and voices, by which the Devil amused 
the world, not at that time only, but since, have been 
likewise interpreted. 

Julian the Apostate dealt mightily in these amuse- 
ments; but the Devil, who neither wished his fall, or 
presaged it to him, evidenced that he knew nothing of 
Julian's fate ; for that, as he sent almost to all the 
oracles of the East, and summoned all the priests to- 
gether, to inform him of the success of his Persian ex- 
pedition, they all, like Ahab's prophets, having a lying 
spirit in them, encouraged him and promised him success. 

Nay, all the ill omens which disturbed him, they 
presaged good from ; for example, he was at a prodi- 
gious expense when he was at Antioch, to buy up 
white beasts and white fowls for sacrifices, and for 
predicting from the entrails ; from whence the Antio- 
chians, in contempt, called him Victimarius ; but 
whenever the entrails foreboded evil, the cunning 
Devil made the priests put a different construction 
upon them, and promise him good : when he entered 
into the temple of the Genii, to offer sacrifice, one of 
the priests dropped down dead ; this, had it had any sig- 
nification more than a man falling dead of an apoplec- 
tic, would have signified something fatal to Julian, 
who made himself a brother sacrist or priest ; whereas 
the priests turned it presently to signify the death of 
his colleague, the consul Sallust, which happened just 
at the same time, though eight hundred miles off. So 
in another case, Julian thought it ominous, that he, 
who was Augustus, should be named with two other 
names of persons, both already dead: the case was 
thus ; the style of the emperor was Julianus Felix Au- 
gustus, and two of his principal officers were Julianus, 
and Felix ; now both Julianus and Felix died within 

H. d. o 



226 THE MODERN 

a few days of one another, which disturbed him much, 
who was the third of the three names : but his flatter- 
ing devil told him it all imported good to him, viz., 
that though Julianus and Felix should die, Augustus 
should be immortal. 

Thus whatever happened, and whatever was fore- 
told, and how much soever they differed from one an- 
other, the lying spirit was sure to reconcile the predic- 
tion and the event, and make them at least seem to 
correspond in favour of the person inquiring. 

Now, we are told, oracles are ceased, and the Devil 
is further limited for the good of mankind, not being 
allowed to vent his delusions by the mouths of the 
priests and augurs, as formerly. I will not take upon 
me to say how far they are really ceased, more than 
they were before ; I think it is much more reasonable 
to believe there was never any reality in them at all, 
or that any oracle ever gave out any answers but 
what were the invention of the priests, and the delu- 
sions of the Devil. I have a great many ancient 
authors on my side in this opinion, as Eusebius, Ter- 
tullian, Aristotle, and others, who, as they lived so near 
the pagan times, and when even some of those rites 
were yet in use, they had much more reason to know, 
and could probably pass a better judgment upon them; 
nay, Cicero himself ridicules them in the openest 
manner. Again, other authors descend to particulars, 
and show how the cheat was managed by the heathen 
sacrists and priests, and in what enthusiastic manner 
they spoke ; namely, by going into the hollow images, 
such as the brazen bull, and the image of Apollo ; and 
how subtly they gave out dubious and ambiguous an- 
swers ; that when the people did not find their expect- 
ations answered by the event, they might be imposed 
upon by the priests, and confidently told they did not 
rightly understand the oracle's meaning : however, I 
cannot say but that indeed there are some authors, of 
good credit too, who will have it that there was a real 



HISTORY OP THE DEVIL. 227 

prophetic spirit in the voice or answers given by the 
oracles, and that oftentimes they were miraculously 
exact in those answers ; and they give that of the 
Delphic oracle answering the question which was given 
about Croesus for an example, viz., what Croesus was 
doing at that time : to wit, that he was boiling a lamb 
and the flesh of a tortoise together, in a brass vessel, 
or boiler, with a cover of the same metal ; that is to 
say, in a kettle with a brass cover. 

To affirm therefore, that they were all cheats, a man 
must encounter with antiquity, and set his private 
judgment up against an established opinion : but it is 
no matter for that ; if I do not see anything in that 
received opinion capable of evidence, much less of de- 
monstration, I must be allowed still to think as I do ; 
others may believe as they list ; I see nothing hard or 
difficult in the thing ; the priests, who were always 
historically informed of the circumstances of the in- 
quirer, or at least something about them, might easily 
find some ambiguous speech to make, and put some 
double entendre upon them, which, upon the event, 
solved the credit of the oracle, were it one way or 
other ; and this they certainly did, or we have room to 
think the Devil knows less of things now than he did 
in former days. 

It is true that by these delusions the priests got 
infinite sums of money, and this makes it still probable 
that they would labour hard, and use the utmost of 
their skill to uphold the credit of their oracles ; and it 
is a full discovery, as well of the subtlety of the sa- 
crists, as of the ignorance and stupidity of the people, 
in those early days of Satan's witchcraft, to see what 
merry work the Devil made with the world, and what 
gross things he put upon mankind. Such was the 
story of the Dordonian oracle in Epirus, viz., that 
two pigeons flew out of Thebes, (N. B. it was the 
Egyptian Thebes,) from the temple of Belus, erected 
there by the ancient sacrists, and that one of these 

Q2 



228 THE MODERN 

fled eastward into Libya, and the deserts of Africa, 
and the other into Greece, namely, to Dordona, and 
these communicated the divine mysteries to one an- 
other, and afterwards gave mystical solutions to the de- 
vout inquirers ; first, the Dordonian pigeon perching 
upon an oak, spoke audibly to the people there, that 
the gods commanded them to build an oracle, or 
temple, to Jupiter in that place, which was accord- 
ingly done : the other pigeon did the like on the hill 
in Africa, where it commanded them to build another 
to Jupiter Ammon, or Hammon. 

Wise Cicero contemned all this, and, as authors tell 
us, ridiculed the answer which, as I have hinted above, 
the oracle gave to Crcesus, proving that the oracle 
itself was a lie ; that it could not come from Apollo, 
for that Apollo never spoke Latin. In a word, Cicero 
rejected them all ; and Demosthenes also mentions the 
cheats of the oracles, when, speaking of the oracle of 
Apollo, he said, Pythia Philippized ; that is, that when 
the priests were bribed with money, they always gave 
their answers in favour of Philip of Macedon. 

But that which is most strange to me is, that in this 
dispute about the reality of oracles, the heathen who 
made use of them are the people who expose them, 
and who insist, most positively, upon their being cheats 
and impostors, as in particular those mentioned above ; 
while the Christians who reject them, yet believe they 
did really foretell things, answer questions, &c. ; only 
with this difference, that the heathen authors who op- 
pose them, insist that it is all delusion and cheat, and 
charge it upon the priests ; and the Christian opposers 
insist that it was real, but that the Devil, not the gods, 
gave the answers ; and that he was permitted to do it 
by a superior power, to magnify that power in the total 
silencing them at last. 

But, as I said before, I am with the heathen here, 
against the Christian writers, for I take it all to be a 
cheat and delusion. I must give my reason for it, or 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 229 

I do nothing : my reason is this ; I insist Satan is as 
blind in matters of futurity as we are, and can tell no- 
thing of what is to come. These oracles, often pre- 
tending to predict, could be nothing else, therefore, 
but a cheat, formed by the money-getting priests to 
amuse the world, and bring grist to their mill. If I 
meet with anything in my way to open my eyes to a 
better opinion of them, I shall tell it you as I go on. 

On the other hand, whether the Devil really spake 
in those oracles, or set the cunning priests to speak for 
him ; whether they predicted, or only made the peo- 
ple believe they predicted; whether they gave an- 
swers which came to pass, or prevailed upon the 
people to believe that what was said did come to pass, 
it was much at one, and fully answered the Devil's 
end; namely, to amuse and delude the world; and as 
to do, or to cause to be done, is the same part of speech, 
so, whoever did it, the Devil's interest was carried on 
by it, his government preserved, and all the mischief 
he could desire was effectually brought to pass ; so that 
every way they were the Devil's oracles, that is out of 
the question. 

Indeed, I have wondered sometimes why, since by 
this sorcery the Devil performed such wonders, that is, 
played so many tricks in the world, and had such 
universal success, he should set up no more of them ; 
but there might be a great many reasons given for that, 
too long to tire you with at present. It is true, there 
were not many of them ; and yet, considering what a 
great deal of business they despatched, it was enough, 
for six or eight oracles were more than sufficient to 
amuse all the world : the chief oracles we meet with 
in history, are among the Greeks and the Romans, viz., 

That of Jupiter Hammon, in Libya, as above. 

The Dordonian, in Epirus. 

Apollo Delphicus, in the country of Phocis, in 
Greece. 

Apollo Clavius, in Asia Minor. 



230 THE MODERN 

Serapis, in Alexandria, in Egypt, 

Trophomis, in Bceotia. 

Sybilla Cumaea, in Italy. 

Diana, at Ephesus. 

Apollo Daphneus, at Antioch. 
Besides many of lesser note, in several other places, 
as I have hinted before. 

I have nothing to do here with the story mentioned 
by Plutarch, of a voice being heard at sea, from some 
of the islands called the Echinades, and calling upon 
one Thamuz, an Egyptian, who was on board a ship, 
bidding him, when he came to the Palodes, other islands 
in the Ionian seas, tell them there, that the great god 
Pan was dead ; and when Thamuz performed it, great 
groanings, and howlings, and lamentations, were heard 
from the shore. 

This tale tells but indifferently, though indeed it 
looks more like a Christian fable than a pagan, because 
it seems as if made to honour the Christian worship, 
and blast all the pagan idolatry ; and for that reason I 
reject it, the Christian profession needing no such 
fabulous stuff to confirm it. 

Nor is it true, in fact, that the oracles did cease im- 
mediately upon the death of Christ ; but, as I noted 
before, the sum of the matter is this ; the Christian 
religion spreading itself universally, as well as mira- 
culously, and that too by the foolishness of preaching, 
into all parts of the world, the oracles ceased ; that is 
to say, their trade ceased, their rogueries were daily 
detected ; the deluded people being better taught, came 
no more after them, and being ashamed, as well as 
discouraged, they sneaked out of the world as well as 
they could ; in short, the customers fell off; and the. 
priests, who were the shopkeepers, having no business 
to do, shut up their shops, broke, and went away ; the 
trade and the tradesmen were hissed off the stage 
together ; so that the Devil, who, it must be confessed, 
got infinitely by the cheat, became bankrupt, and was 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 231 

obliged to set other engines at work, as other cheats 
and deceivers do, who, when one trick grows stale, and 
will serve no longer, are forced to try another. 

Nor was the Devil to seek of new measures; for 
though he could not give out his delusive trash as he 
did before, in pomp and state, with the solemnity of a 
temple and a set of enthusiasts called priests, who 
played a thousand tricks to amuse the world, he then 
had recourse to his old Egyptian method, which indeed 
was more ancient than that of oracles ; and that was by 
magic, sorcery, familiars, witchcraft, and the like. 

Of this we find the people of the south, that is, of 
Arabia and Chaldea, were the first, from whence we 
are told the wise men, that is to say, magicians, were 
called Chaldeans and Southsayers. Hence also we find 
Ahaziah, the king of Israel, sent to Baal-zebub, the god 
of Ekron, to inquire whether he should live or die. 
This, some think, w T as a kind of an oracle, though 
others think it was only some overgrown magician, 
who counterfeited himself to be a devil, and obtained 
upon that idol-hunting age to make a cunning man of 
him ; and for that purpose he got himself made the 
priest of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, and gave out 
answers in his name. Thus those merry fellows in 
Egypt, Jannes and Jambres, are said to mimic Moses 
and Aaron when they worked the miraculous plagues 
upon the Egyptians ; and we have some instances in 
Scripture that support this, such as the witch of Endor, 
the king Man asses, who dealt with the Devil openly, 
and had a familiar ; the woman mentioned Acts xvi., 
who had a spirit of divination, and who got money by 
playing the oracle, that is, answering doubtful ques- 
tions, &c, which spirit, or devil, the apostle cast out. 

Now, though it is true that the old women in the 
world have filled us with tales, some improbable, others 
impossible, some weak, some ridiculous ; and that this 
puts a general discredit upon all the graver matrons, 
who entertain us with stories better put together ; yet 



232 THE MODERN 

it is certain, and I must be allowed to affirm, that the 
Devil does not disdain to take into his service many 
troops of good old women, and old women-men too, 
who he finds it is for his service to keep in constant 
pay ; to these he is found frequently to communicate 
Ms mind, and oftentimes we find them such proficients, 
that they know much more than the Devil can teach 
them. 

How far our ancient friend Merlin, or the grave 
matron his (Satan's) most trusty and well- beloved 
cousin and counsellor, mother Shipton, were commis- 
sioned by him to give oat their prophetic oracles, and 
what degree of possession he may have arrived to in 
them upon their midnight excursions, I will not under- 
take to prove ; but that he might be acquainted with 
them both, as well as with several of our modern 
gentlemen, I will not deny neither. 

I confess it is not very incongruous with the Devil's 
temper, or with the nature of his business, to shift 
hands : possibly he found that he had tired the world 
with oracular cheats ; that men began to be surfeited 
with them, and grew sick of the frauds which were so 
frequently detected ; that it was time to take new 
measures, and contrive some new trick to bite the world, 
that he might not be exposed to contempt ; or perhaps 
he saw the approach of new light, which the Christian 
doctrine bringing with it began to spread in the minds 
of men ; that it would outshine the dim -burning igni 
fatui, with which he had so long cheated mankind, and 
was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobbed off the 
stage by his own people, when their eyes should begin 
to open : that upon this foot he might, in policy, with- 
draw from those old retreats the oracles, and restrain 
those responses before they lost all their credit ; for we 
find the people seemed to be at a mighty loss for some 
time, for want of them, so that it made them run up 
and down to conjurers, and man-gossips, to brazen 
heads, speaking calves, and innumerable simple things. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 233 

so gross that they are scarce fit to be named, to satisfy 
the itch of having their fortunes told them, as we call it. 

Now as the Devil is very seldom blind to his own 
interest, and therefore thought fit to quit his old way 
of imposing upon the world by his oracles, only because 
he found the world began to be too wise to be imposed 
upon that way; so, on the other hand, finding there 
was still a possibility to delude the world, though by 
other instruments, he no sooner laid down his oracles, 
and the solemn pageantry, magnificent appearances, 
and other frauds of his priests and votaries, in their 
temples and shrines, but he set up a new trade, and 
having, as I have said, agents and instruments sufficient 
for any business that he could have to employ them in, 
he begins in corners, as the learned and merry Dr. 
Brown says, and exercises his minor trumperies by 
ways of his own contriving, listing a great number of 
new-found operators, such as witches, magicians, di- 
viners, figure-casters, astrologers, and such inferior 
seducers. 

Now it is true, as that doctor says, this was running 
into corners, as if he had been expelled his more 
triumphant way of giving audience in form, w T hich for 
so many ages had been allowed him ; yet I must add, 
that as it seemed to be the Devil's own doing, from a 
right judgment of his affairs, which had taken a new 
turn in the/world, upon the shining of new lights from 
the Christian doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the 
Devil made himself amends upon mankind, by the 
various methods he took, and the multitude of instru- 
ments he employed, and perhaps deluded mankind in 
a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, 
though not so universally. 

He had, indeed, before more pomp and figure put 
upon it, and he cheated mankind then in a way of 
magnificence and splendour ; but this was not in above 
eight or ten principal places, and not fifty places in all, 
public or private ; whereas now, fifty thousand of his 



234 THE MODERN 

angels and instruments, visible and invisible, hardly 
may be said to suffice for one town or city; but in 
short, as his invisible agents fill the air, and are at 
hand for mischief on every emergence, so his visible 
fools swarm in every village, and you have scarce a 
hamlet or a town but his emissaries are at hand for 
business; and, which is still worse, in all places he 
finds business ; nay, even where religion is planted, and 
seems to flourish, yet he keeps his ground and pushes 
his interest according to what has been said elsewhere 
upon the same subject, that wherever religion plants, 
the Devils plants close by it. 

Nor, as I say, does he fail of success; delusion spreads 
like a plague, and the Devil is sure of votaries ; like a 
true mountebank, he can always bring a crowd about 
his stage, and that sometimes faster than other people. 
What I observe upon this subject is this, that the 
world is at a strange loss for want of the Devil ; if it 
was not so, what is the reason, that upon the silencing 
the oracles, and religion telling them that miracles are 
ceased, and that God has done speaking by prophets, 
they never inquire whether heaven has established any 
other or new way of revelation, but away they ran with 
their doubts and difficulties to these dreamers of dreams, 
tellers of fortunes, and personal oracles to be resolved ; 
as if, when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these 
could speak ; and as if the wicked spirit could do 
more than the good, the diabolical more than the 
divine, or that heaven having taking away the Devil's 
voice, had furnished him with an equivalent, by allow- 
ing scolds, termagants, and old, weak, and superannuated 
wretches, to speak for him ; for these are the people 
we go to now in our doubts and emergencies. 

While this blindness continues among us, it is 
nonsense to say that oracles are silenced, or the Devil 
is dumb, for the Devil gives audience still by his 
deputies; only as Jeroboam made priests of the meanest 
of the people, so he is grown a little humble, and makes 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 235 

use of meaner instruments than lie did before ; for 
whereas the priests of Apollo, and of Jupiter, were 
splendid in their appearanc, of grave and venerable 
aspect, and sometimes of no mean quality, now he 
makes use of scoundrels and rabble, beggars and vaga- 
bonds, old hags, superannuated miserable hermits, 
gipseys and strollers, the pictures of envy and ill luck. 

Either the Devil is grown an ill master, and gives 
but mean wages, that he can get no better servants ; 
or else common sense is grown very low-prized and 
contemptible, that such as these are fit tools to con- 
tinue the succession of fraud, and carry on the Devil's 
interest in the world ; for were not the passions and 
temper of mankind deeply pre-engaged in favour of this 
dark prince, we could never suffer ourselves to accept 
of his favours by the hands of such contemptible agents 
as these ! how do we receive his oracles from an old 
witch of particular eminence, and who we believe to be 
more than ordinarily inspired from hell ! I say, we re- 
ceive the oracle with reverence, that is to say, with a 
kind of horror, with regard to the black prince it 
comes from, and at the same time turn our faces 
away from the wretch that mumbles out the answers, 
lest she should cast an evil eye, as we call it, upon us, 
and put a devil into us when she plays the devil before 
us ! how do we listen to the cant of those worst of va- 
gabonds, the gipseys, when, at the same time, we watch 
our hedges and henroosts for fear of their thieving ! 

Either the Devil uses us more like fools than he did 
our ancestors, or we really are worse fools than those 
ages produced, for they were never deluded by such 
low-prized devils as we are, by such despicable Bride- 
well devils, that are fitter for a whipping-post than an 
altar, and instead of being received as the voice of an 
oracle, should be sent to the house of correction for 
pickpockets. 

Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of 
these wretches to be seen, but, in short, if it has been 



236 THE MODERN 

in other nations as it is with us, I do not see that the 
Devil was able to get any better people into his pay, or 
at least very rarely : where have we seen anything 
above a tinker tarn wizard ? and where have we had a 

witch of quality among us, mother Je— gs excepted? 

and if she had not been more of something else than a 
witch, it was thought she had never got so much money 
by her profession. 

Magicians, southsayers, devil-raisers, and such people, 
we have heard much of, but seldom above the degree 
of the meanest of the mean people, the lowest of the 
lowest rank : indeed the word, wisemen which the 
Devil would fain have had his agents honoured with, 
was used awhile in Egypt, and in Persia, among the 
Chaldeans, but it continued but a little while, and 
never reached so far northward as our country ; nor, 
however the Devil has managed it, have many of our 
great men, who have been most acquainted with him, 
ever been able to acquire the title of wise men. 

I have heard that in older times, I suppose in good 
queen Bess's days, or beyond, (for little is to be said 
here for anything on this side of her time,) there were 
some councillors and statesmen who merited the cha- 
racter of wise, in the best sense ; that is to say, good, 
and wise, as they stand in conjunction ; but as to what 
has happened since that, or, as we may call it, from 
that queen's funeral to the late revolution, I have little 
to say ; but I will tell you what honest Andrew Marvel 
said of those times, and by that you may, if you please, 
make your calculation or let it alone, it is all one : 

To see a white staff-maker, a beggar, a lord, 
And scarce a wise man at a long council-board. 

But I may be told this relates to wise men in another 
construction, or wise men as they are opposed to 
fools ; whereas we are talking of them now under 
another class, namely, as wisemen or magicians, south- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 237 

sayers, &c, such as were in former times called by that 
name. 

But to this I answer, that take them in which sense 
you please, it may be the same ; for if I were to ask 
the Devil the character of the best statesmen he had 
employed among us for many years past, I am apt to 
think that though oracles are ceased, he would ho- 
nestly, according to the old ambiguous way, when I 
asked if they were Christians, answer they were (his) 
privy-councillors. 

It is but a little while ago, that I happened, in con- 
versation, to meet with a long list of the magistrates of 
that age, in a neighbouring country, that is to say, the 
men of fame among them ; and it was a very diverting 
thing to see the judgment which was passed upon 
them among a great deal of good company : it is not 
for me to tell you how many white staves, golden keys, 
marshal's batons, cordons blue, gordon rouge and 
gordon blanc, there were among them, or by what 
titles, as dukes, counts, marquis, abbot, bishop, or 
judge, they were to be distinguished ; but the marginal 
notes I found upon most of them were (being marked 
with an asterisk) as follows : — 

Such a duke, such eminent offices added to his titles 
(* in the margin) 'no saint.' 

Such an arch with the title of noble added, 

'no archangel.' 

Such an eminent statesman and prime minister, 
c no witch.' 



Such a ribbon with a set of great letters added, 
'no conjurer.' 



It presently occured to me that though oracles were 
ceased, and we had now no more double entendre in such 
a degree as before, yet that ambiguous answers were 
not at an end ; and that whether those negatives were 
meant so by the writers, or not, it was certain custom 
de the readers to conclude them to be satires, that 
they were to be rung backward, like the bells when 



238 THE MODERN 

the town is on fire ; though, in short, I durst not 
read them backward anywhere, but as speaking of 
foreign people, for fear of raising the devil I am talk- 
ing of. 

But to return to the subject : to such mean things 
is the Devil now reduced in his ordinary way of carry- 
ing on his business in the world, that his oracles are de- 
livered now by the bellmen and the chimney-sweepers, 
by the meanest of those that speak in the dark, and if 
he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly ; 
his agents seem to me as if the Devil had singled them 
out by their deformity, or that there was something 
particular required in their aspect to qualify them for 
their employment ; whence it is become proverbial* 
when our looks are very dismal and frightful, to say ' I 
look like a witch;' or in other cases to say, c as ugly as a 
witch;' in another case, 'to look as envious as a witch/ 
Now whether there is anything particularly required in 
the looks of the Devil's modern agents, which is assist- 
ing in the discharge of their offices, and which makes 
their answers appear more solemn^ this the Devil has 
not yet revealed, at least not to me ; and, therefore, 
why it is that he singles out such creatures as are fit 
only to frighten the people that come to them with 
their inquiries, I do not take upon me to determine. 

Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extra- 
ordinary in their aspect, that they might strike an awe 
into the minds of their votaries, as if they were Satan's 
true and real representatives, and that the said vota- 
ries may think when they speak to the witches they 
are really talking to the Devil ; or perhaps it is neces- 
sary to the witches themselves, that they should be so 
exquisitely ugly, that they might not be surprised at 
whatever figure the Devil makes when he first appears 
to them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than 
themselves. 

Some are of the opinion that the communication with 
the Devil, or between the Devil and those creature* 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 239 

his agents, has something assimilating in it, and that 
if they were tolerable before, they are, ipso facto, turned 
into devils by talking with him; I will not say but 
that a tremor in the limbs, a horror in the aspect, and a 
surprising stare in the eyes, may seize upon some of 
them when they really see the Devil, and that the fre- 
quent repetition may make those distortions, which 
we so constantly see in their faces, become natural to 
them; by which, if it does not continue always upon 
the countenance, they can at least, like the posture- 
masters, cast themselves into such figures and frightful 
dislocations of the lines and features in their faces, and 
so assume a devil's face suitable to the occasion, or as 
may serve the turn for which they take it up, and as 
often as they have any use for it. 

But be it which of these the inquirer pleases, it is 
all one to the case in hand ; this is certain, that such 
deformed, devil-like creatures, most of those we call 
hags and witches are in their shapes and aspects, and 
that they give out their sentences and frightful mes- 
sages with an air of revenge for some injury received ; 
for witches are famed chiefly for doing mischief. 

It seems the Devil has always picked out the most 
ugly and frightful old women to do his business ; mo- 
ther Shipton, our famous English witch or prophetess, 
is very much wronged in her picture, if she was not of 
the most terrible aspect imaginable ; and if it be true 
that Merlin, the famous Welsh fortuneteller, was a 
frightful figure, it will seem the more rational to be- 
lieve, if we credit another story, viz., that he was 
begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by 
itself: but, to go back to the Devil's instruments being 
so ugly, it may be observed, I say, that the Devil 
has always dealt in such sort of cattle ; the sibyls, 
of whom so many strange prophetic things are recorded, 
whether true or no is not to the question, are (if the 
Italian painters may have any credit given them) all 
represented as very old women ; and, as if ugliness 



240 THE MODERN 

were a beauty to old age, they seem to paint them out 
as ugly and frightful as, not they, the painters, but even 
as the Devil himself could make them ; not that I be- 
lieve there are any original pictures of them really 
extant ; but it is not unlikely that the Italians might 
have some traditional knowledge of them, or some re- 
maining notions of them, or particularly that ancient 
sibyl named Anus, who sold the fatal book to Tarquin; 
it is said of her that Tarquin supposed she doated with 
age. 

I had thoughts, indeed, here to have entered into a 
learned disquisition of the excellency of old women in 
all diabolical operations, and particularly of the neces- 
sity of having recourse to them for Satan's more ex- 
quisite administration, which also may serve to solve 
the great difficulty in the natural philosophy of hell ; 
namely, why it comes to pass that the Devil is obliged, 
for want of old women, properly so called, to turn so 
many ancient fathers, grave counsellors both of law 
and state, and especially civilians, or doctors of the law, 
into old women, and how the extraordinary operation 
is performed ; but this, as a thing of great consequence 
in Satan's management of human affairs, and par- 
ticularly as it may lead us into the necessary history 
as well as characters of some of the most eminent of 
these sects among us, I have purposely reserved for a 
work by itself, to be published, if Satan hinders not, in 
fifteen volumes in folio, wherein I shall, in the first 
place, define in the most exact manner possible, what 
is to be understood by a male old woman, of what hete- 
rogeneous kind they are produced ; give you the mon- 
strous anatomy of the parts, and especially those of the 
head, which being filled with innumerable globules of 
a sublime nature, and which being of a fine contexture 
without, but particularly hollow in the cavity, defines 
most philosophically that ancient paradoxical saying, 
viz., being full of emptiness, and makes it very con- 
sistent with nature and common sense. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 241 

I shall likewise spend some time, and it must be 
labour too, 1 assure you, when it is done, in determin- 
ing whether this new species of wonderfuls are not de- 
rived from that famous old woman Merlin, which I 
prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because 
of the many several judicious authors, who affirm the 
said Merlin, as I hinted before, to have been begotten 
by the Devil. 

As to the deriving his gift of prophecy from the Devil, 
by that pretended generation, I shall omit that part, 
because, as I have all along insisted upon it, that Satan 
himself has no prophetic or predicting powers of his 
own, it is not very clear to me that he could convey it 
to his posterity, nil dat quod non habet. 

However, in deriving this so much magnified pro- 
phet in a right line from the Devil, much may be said 
in favour of his ugly face, in which it was said he was 
very remarkable, for it is no new thing for a child to 
be like the father ; but all these weighty things 1 ad- 
journ for the present, and proceed to the affair in hand, 
namely, the several branches of the Devil's manage- 
ment since his quitting his temples and oracles. 



H. D. 



242 THE MODERN 



CHAP. VI. 



Of the extraordinary appearance of the Devil, and 
particularly of the cloven foot 

Some people would fain have us treat this tale of the 
Devil's appearing with a cloven-foot with more solem- 
nity than I believe the Devil himself does ; for Satan, 
who knows how much of a cheat it is, must certainly 
ridicule it, in his own thoughts, to the last degree ; 
but as he is glad of any way to hoodwink the under- 
standings, and bubble the weak part of the world ; so 
if he sees men willing to take every scarecrow for a 
devil, it is not his business to undeceive them ; on the 
other hand, he finds it his interest to foster the cheat, 
and serve himself of the consequence : nor could I 
doubt but the Devil, if any mirth be allowed him, often 
laughs at the many frightful shapes and figures we dress 
him up in, and especially to see how willing we are 
first to paint him as black, and make him appear as 
ugly as we can, and then stare and start at the spec- 
trum of our own making. 

The truth is, that among all the horribles that we 
dress up Satan in, I cannot but think we show the 
least of invention in this of a goat, or a thing with a 
goat's foot, of all the rest ; for though a goat is a crea- 
ture made use of by our Saviour in the allegory of the 
day of judgment, and is said there to represent the 
wicked rejected party, yet it seems to be only on ac- 
count of their similitude to the sheep, and so to repre- 
sent the just fate of hypocrisy and hypocrites, and, in 
particular, to form the necessary antithesis in the 
story ; for else, our whimsical fancies excepted, a sheep 
or a lamb has a cloven foot as well as a goat ; nay, if 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 243 

the Scripture be of any value in the case, it is to the 
Devil's advantage, for the dividing the hoof was the 
distinguishing character or mark of a clean beast, and 
how the Devil can be brought into that number is 
pretty hard to say. 

One would have thought if we had intended to have 
given a just figure of the Devil, it would have been 
more apposite to have ranked him among the cat-kind, 
and given him a foot (if he is to be known by his foot) 
like a lion, or like a red dragon, being the same crea- 
tures which he is represented by in the text, and so 
his claws would have had some terror in them, as well 
as his teeth. 

But neither is the goat a true representative of the 
Devil at all, for we do not rank the goats among the 
subtle or cunning part of the brutes ; he is counted a 
fierce creature indeed of his kind, though nothing like 
these other above mentioned; and he is emblematically 
used to represent a lustful temper, but even that part 
does not fully serve to describe the Devil, whose ope- 
ration lies principally another way. 

Besides, it is not the goat himself that is made use 
of, it is the cloven hoof only, and that so particularly, 
that the cloven foot of a ram or a swine, or any other 
creature, may serve as well as that of a goat, only that 
history gives us some cause to call it the goat's foot. 

In the next place, it is understood by us not as a 
bare token to know Satan by, but as if it were a brand 
upon him, and that, like the mark God put upon Cain, 
it was given him for a punishment, so that he cannot 
get leave to appear without it, nay, cannot conceal it, 
whatever other dress or disguise he may put on ; and, 
as if it was to make him as ridiculous as possible, they 
will have it be, that whenever Satan has occasion to 
dress himself in any human shape, be it of what degree 
soever, from the king to the beggar, be it of a fine 
lady, or of an old woman, (the latter it seems he 
most often assumes,) yet still he not only must have this 

H 2 



244 THE MODERN 

cloven foot about him, but he is obliged to show it too ; 
nay, they will not allow him any dress, whether it be a 

prince's robes, a lord cha r's gown, or a lady's 

hoops and long petticoats, but the cloven foot must 
be showed from under them ; they will not so much as 
allow him an artifical shoe, or a jack- boot, as we often 
see contrived to conceal a club-foot, or a wooden-leg ; 
but that the Devil may be known wherever he goes, he 
is bound to show his foot ; they might as well oblige 
him to set a bill upon his cap, as folks do upon a house 
to be let, and have it written in capital letters, I am 
the Devil. 

It must be confessed, this is very particular, and 
would be very hard upon the Devil, if it had not an- 
other article in it, which is some advantage to him, 
and that is, that the fact is not true ; but the belief of 
this is so universal, that all the world runs away with 
it ; by which mistake the good people miss the Devil 
many times where they look for him, and meet him as 
often where they did not expect him, and when, for 
want of this cloven foot, they do not know him. 

Upon this very account I have sometimes thought, 
not that this has been put upon him by mere fancy, 
and the cheat of a heavy imagination, propagated by 
fable and chimney-corner divinity, but that it has been 
a contrivance of his own : and that, in short, the 
Devil raised this scandal upon himself, that he might 
keep his disguise the better, and might go a visiting 
among his friends without being known ; for were it 
really so, that he could go nowhere without this parti- 
cular brand of infamy, he could not come into com- 
pany, could not dine with my lord mayor, nor drink 

tea with the ladies, could not go to the drawing-r 

at , could not have gone to Fontainbleau to the 

king of France's wedding, or to the Diet of Polan dto 
prevent the grandees there coming to an agreement ; 
nay, which would be still worse than all, he could not 
go to the masquerade, nor to any of our balls ; the 






HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 245 

reason is plain, he would be always discovered, ex- 
posed, and forced to leave the good company, or, which 
would be as bad, the company would all cry out, the 
Devil, and run out of the room as if they were 
frightened ; nor could all the help of invention do him 
any service, no dress he could put on would cover 
him ; not all our friends at Tavistock Corner could 
furnish him with a habit that would disguise or con- 
ceal him, this unhappy foot would spoil it all. Now 
this would be so great a loss to him, that I question 
whether he could carry on any of his most important 
affairs in the world without it ; for though he has ac- 
cess to mankind in his complete disguise, I mean that 
of his invisibility, yet the learned very much agree in 
this, that his corporal presence in the world is abso- 
lutely necessary upon many occasions, to support his 
interest, and keep up his correspondences, and parti- 
cularly to encourage his friends, when numbers are 
requisite to carry on his affairs ; but this part I shall 
have occasion to speak of again, when I come to con- 
sider him as a gentleman of business in his locality, 
and under the head of visible apparition ; but I return 
to the foot. 

As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself 
has politically spread about this notion concerning his 
appearing with a cloven foot, so I doubt not that he 
has thought it for his purpose to paint this cloven foot 
so lively in the imaginations of many of our people, 
and especially of those clear-sighted folks who see the 
Devil when he is not to be seen, that they would make 
no scruple to say, nay, and to make affidavit too, even 
before Satan himself, whenever he sat upon the bench, 
that they had seen his worship's foot at such and such 
a time ; this I advance the rather because it is very 
much for his interest to do this, for if we had not many 
witnesses, viva voce, to testify it, we should have had 
some obstinate fellows always among us, who would 
have denied the fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully 



246 THE MODERN 

of it, and so have raised disputes and objections against 
it as impossible, or at least as improbable ; buzzing 
one ridiculous notion or other into our ears, as if the 
Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had 
no more a cloven foot than a pope, whose apostolical 
toes have so often been reverentially kissed by kings 
and emperors. But now, alas ! this part is out of the 
question, not the man in the moon, not the groaning- 
board, not the speaking of friar Bacon's brazen-head, 
not the inspiration of mother Shipton, or the miracles 
of Dr. Faustus. things as cert ain as dea th and taxes, 
can be more firmly believed : the Devil^oTTTaveTa 
cloven foot ! I doubt not but I could, in a short time, 
bring you a thousand old women together, that would 
as soon believe there was no Devil at all ; nay, they 
will tell you, he could not be a devil without it, any 
more than he could come into the room and the 
candles not burn blue, or go out and not leave a smell 
of brimstone behind him. 

Since then the certainty of the thing is so well 
established, and there are so many good and substan- 
tial witnesses ready to testify that he has a cloven foot, 
and that they have seen it too ; nay, and that we have 
antiquity on our side, for we have this truth confirmed 
by the testimony of many ages ; why should we doubt 
it any longer ? We can prove that many of our ances- 
tors have been of this opinion, and divers learned au- 
thors have left it upon record, as particularly that 
learned familiarist mother Hazel, whose writings are 
to be found in MS. in the famous library at Pie- Cor- 
ner ; also the admired Joan of Amesbury, the History 
of the Lancashire Witches, and the reverend exorcist 
of the Devils of Loudon, whose history is extant 
among us to this day ; all these and many more may 
be quoted, and their writings referred to for the con- 
firmation of the antiquity of this truth ; but there 
seems to be no occasion for further evidence, it is 
enough, Satan himself, if he did not raise the report, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 247 

yet tacitly owns the fact, at least he appears willing to 
have it believed, and be received as a general truth for 
the reasons above. 

Bat besides all this, and as much a jest as some un- 
believing people would have this story pass for, who 
knows but that if Satan is empowered to assume any 
shape or body, and to appear to us visibly, as if really so 
shaped ; I say, who knows but he may, by the same 
authority, be allowed to assume the addition of the 
cloven foot, or two or four cloven feet, if he pleased ? 
and why not a cloven foot as well as any other foot, if 
he thinks fit ? for if the Devil can assume a shape, and 
can appear to mankind in a visible form, it may I 
doubt not, with as good authority be advanced that he 
is left at liberty to assume what shape he pleases, and 
to choose what case of flesh and blood he will please 
to wear, whether real or imaginary ; and, if this liberty 
be allowed him, it is an admirable disguise for him to 
come generally with his cloven foot, that when he 
finds it for his purpose on special occasions to come 
without it, as I said above, he may not be suspected ; 
but take this with you as you go, that all this is upon 
a supposition that the Devil can assume a visible shape, 
and can make a real appearance, which, however, I do 
not think fit to grant or deny. 

Certain it is, the first people who bestowed a cloven 
foot upon the Devil, were not so despicable as you may 
imagine, but were real favourites of heaven ; for did 
not Aaron set up the devil of a calf in the congregation, 
and set the people a dancing about it for a god ? Upon 
which occasion, expositors tell us, that particular com- 
mand was given, Levi. xvii. 7. They shall no more 
offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have 
gone a whoring ; likewise king Jeroboam set up the 
two calves, one at Dan, and the other at Bethel, and 
we find them charged afterwards with setting up the 
worship of devils, instead of the worship of God. 

After this, we find some nations actually sacrificed 



248 THE MODERN 

to the Devil, in the form of a ram, and others of a goat, 
from which, and that above of the calves at Horeb, I 
doubt not the story of the cloven foot first derived ; 
and it is plain, that the worship of that calf at Horeb, 
is meant in the Scripture quoted above, Lev. xvii. 7. 
Thou shalt no more offer sacrifices unto devils: the 
original is Seghnirim; that is, rough and hairy goats 
or calves ; and some think also in this shape the Devil 
most ordinarily appeared to the Egyptians and 
i^rabians, from whence it was derived, 

Also in the old writings of the Egyptians, I mean 
their hieroglyphic writing, before the use of letters was 
known, we are told this was the mark that he was 
known by ; and the figure of a goat was the hierogly- 
phic of the Devil ; some will affirm, that the Devil was 
particularly pleased to be so represented ; how they came 
by their information, and whether they had it from his 
own mouth or not, authors have not yet determined. 

But be this as it will, I do not see that Satan could 
have been at a loss for some extraordinary figure to 
have bantered mankind with, though this had not been 
thought of; but thinking of the cloven foot first, and 
the matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily 
rooted itself in the bewildered fancy of the people, and 
now it is riveted too fast for the Devil himself to re- 
move it, if he was disposed to try ; but as I said above, 
it is none of his business to solve doubts, or remove 
difficulties out of our heads, but to perplex us with 
more, as much as he can. 

Some people carry this matter a great deal higher 
still, and will have the cloven foot be like the great 
stone which the Brazilian conjurers used to solve all 
difficult questions upon, after having used a great 
many monstrous and barbarous gestures and distortions 
of their bodies, and cut certain marks or magical 
figures upon the stone ; so, I say, they will have this 
cloven foot be a kind of a conjuring-stone, and tell us 
that in former times, when Satan drove a greater trade 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 249 

with mankind in public than he has done of late, he 
gave this cloven foot as a token to his particular 
favourites to work wonders with, and to conjure by ; 
and that witches, fairies, hobgoblins, and such things, 
of which the ancients had several kinds, at least in 
their imagination, had all a goat's leg, with a cloven 
foot, to put on upon extraordinary occasions : it seems 
this method is of late grown oat of practice, and so, 
like the melting of marble, and the painting of glass, it 
is laid aside among the various useful arts which 
history tells us are lost to the world ; what may be 
practised in the fairy world, if such a place there be, 
we can give no particular account at present. 

But neither is this all, for other would-be-wise peo- 
ple take upon them to make further and more con- 
siderable improvements upon this doctrine of the 
cloven foot, and treat it as a most significant instru- 
ment of Satan's private operation, and that as Joseph 
is said to divine, that is to say, to conjure, by his 
golden cup which was put into Benjamin's sack, so the 
Devil has managed several of his secret operations, and 
possessions, and other hellish mechanisms, upon the 
spirits as well as bodies of men, by the medium or in- 
strumentality of t^e cloven foot; accordingly, it had a 
kind of a hellish inspiration in it, and a separate and 
magical power, by which he wrought his infernal 
miracles ; that the cloven foot had a superior signifi- 
cation, and was not only emblematic and significative 
of the conduct of men, but really guided their conduct 
in the most important affairs of life ; and that the 
agents the Devil employed to influence mankind 
and to delude them, and draw them into all the snares 
and traps that he lays continually for their destruction, 
were equipped with this foot in aid of their other 
powers for mischief. 

Here they read us learned lectures upon the sove- 
reign operations which the Devil is at present master 
of, in the government of human affairs ; and how the 



250 THE MODERN 

cloven foot is an emblem of the true double entendre 
or divided aspect, which the great men of the world 
generally act with, and by which all their affairs are 
directed ; from whence it comes to pass that there is 
no such thing as a single-hearted integrity, or an 
upright meaning, to be found in the world ; that man- 
kind, worse than the ravenous brutes, preys upon his 
own kind, and devours them by all the laudable 
methods of flattery, whine, cheat and treachery ; 
crocodile-like, weeping over those it will devour, de- 
stroying those it smiles upon, and, in a word, devours 
its own kind, which the very beasts refuse, and that by 
all the ways of fraud and allurement that hell can 
invent ; holding out a cloven divided hoof, or hand, 
pretending to save, when the very pretence is made 
use of to ensnare and destroy. 

Thus the divided hoof is the representative of a 
divided double tongue and heart, an emblem of the 
most exquisite hypocrisy, the most fawning and fatally 
deceiving flattery ; and here they give us very divert- 
ing histories, though tragical in themselves, of the 
manner which some of the Devil's inspired agents have 
managed themselves under the especial influence of the 
cloven foot ; how they have made war under the pre- 
tence of peace, murdered garrisons under the most 
sacred capitulations, massacred innocent multitudes 
after surrenders to mercy. 

Again, they tell us the cloven foot has been made 
use of in all treasons, plots, assassinations, and secret 
as well as open murders and rebellions. Thus Joab 
under the treason of an embrace, showed how dexter- 
ously he could manage the cloven foot, and struck 
Abner under the fifth rib ; thus David played the 
cloven foot upon poor Uriah, when he had a mind to 
lie with his wife ; thus Brutus played it upon Caesar ; 
and, to come nearer home, we have had a great many 
retrograde motions in this country, by this magical 
implement the foot ; such as that of the earl of Essex's 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 251 

fate, beheading the queen of Scots, and divers others 
in queen Elizabeth's time ; that of the earl of Shrews- 
bury and sir Thomas Overbury, Gondamor and sir 
Walter Raleigh, and many others in king James the 
First's time ; in all which, if the cloven foot had not 
been dexterously managed, those murders had not been 
so dexterously managed, or the murderers have so well 
been screened from justice ; for which, and the impre- 
cated justice of heaven unappeased, some have thought 
the innocent branches of the royal house of Stuart did 
not fare the better in the ages which followed. 

It must be confessed, the cloven foot was in its fuD 
exercise in the next reign, and the generation that 
rose up immediately after them arrived to the most 
exquisite skill for management of it ; here they fasted 
and prayed, there they plundered and murdered ; here 
they raised war for the king, and there they fought 
against him : cutting throats for God's sake, and de- 
posing both king and kingly government accordingto law. 

Nor was the cloven foot unemployed on all sides ; 
for it is the main excellency of this instrument of hell, 
that it acts on every side, it is its denominating 
quality, and is for that reason called a cloven, or di- 
vided, hoof. 

This mutilated apparition has been so public in 
other countries, too, that it seems to convince us the 
Devil is not confined to England only, but that, as his 
empire extended to all the sublunary world, so he gives 
them all room to see he is qualified to manage them 
his own way. 

What abundant use did that prince of dissemblers, 
Charles V., make of this foot. It was by the help of 
this apparition of the foot that he baited his hook with 
the city of Milan, and tickled Francis I. of France so 
well with it, that when he passed through France, and 
was in that king's power, he let him go, and never got 
the bait off of the hook neither ; it seems the foot was 
not on king Francis's side at that time. 



252 THE MODERN 

How cruelly did Philip II. of Spain manage this foot 
in the murder of the nobility of the Spanish Nether- 
lands, the assassination of the prince of Orange, and, 
at last, in that of his own son, Don Carlos, infant of 
Spain : and yet such was the Devil's craft, and so 
nicely did he bestir his cloven hoof, that this monarch 
died consolated, though impenitent, in the arms of the 
church, and with the benediction of the clergy, too, 
those second best managers of the said hoof in the 
world. 

I must acknowledge, I agree with this opinion thus 
far ; namely, that the Devil, acting by this cloven foot, 
as a machine, has done great things in the world for 
the propagating his dark empire among us ; and his- 
tory is full of examples, besides the little, low-prized 
things done among us ; for we are come to such a kind 
of degeneracy in folly, that we have even dishonoured 
the Devil, and put this glorious engine, the cloven foot, 
to such mean uses, that the Devil himself seems to be 
ashamed of us. 

But, to return a little to foreign history, besides 
what has been mentioned above, we find flaming ex- 
amples of most glorious mischief done by this weapon, 
when put into the hands of kings and men of fame in 
the world : how many games have the kings of France 
played with this cloven foot, and that within a few 
years of one another ! First, Charles IX. played the 
cloven foot upon Caspar Coligni, admiral of France, 
when he caressed him, complimented him, invited him 
to Paris, to the wedding of the king of Navarre, called 
him father, kissed him, and, when he was wounded, 
sent his own surgeons to take care of him, and yet, 
three days after, ordered him to be assassinated and 
murdered, used with a thousand indignities, and, at 
last, thrown out of the window into the street, to be 
insulted by the rabble. 

Did not Henry III., in the same country, play the 
cloven foot upon the duke of Guise, when he called 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 253 

him to his council, and caused him to be murdered as he 
went in at the door. The Guises, again, played the 
same game back upon the king, when they sent out a 
Jacobin friar to assassinate him in his tent, as he lay at 
the siege of Paris. 

In a word, this opera of the cloven foot has been 
acted all over the Christian world, ever since Judas 
betrayed the Son of God with a kiss ; nay, our Saviour 
says expressly of him, One of you is a devil; and the 
sacred text says, in another place, The Devil entered 
into Judas. 

It would take up a great deal of time, and paper, 
too, to give you a full account of the travels of this 
cloven foot, its progress into all the courts of Europe, 
and with what most accurate hypocrisy Satan has made 
use of it upon many occasions, and with what success ; 
but as, in the elaborate work of which I just now gave 
you a specimen, I design one whole volume upon this 
subject, and which I shall call The Complete History 
of the Cloven Foot, I say, for that reason, and divers 
others, I shall say but very little more of it in this 
place. 

It remains to tell you, that this merry story of the 
cloven foot is very essential to the history which I am 
now writing, as it has been all along the great emblem 
of the Devil's government in the world, and by which 
all his most considerable engagements have been an- 
swered and executed ; for, as he is said not to be able 
to conceal this foot, but that he carries it always with 
him, it imports most plainly, that the Devil would be 
no devil, if he was not a dissembler, a deceiver, and 
carried a double entendre in all he does or says ; that 
he cannot but say one thing, and mean another ; pro- 
mise one thing, and do another ; engage, and not per- 
form ; declare, and not intend ; and act, like a true 
devil, as he is, with a countenance that is no index of 
his heart. 

I might, indeed, go back to originals, and derive this 



254 THE MODERN 

cloven foot from Satan's primitive state, as a cherubim, 
or a celestial being, which cherubims, as Moses is said 
to have seen them about the throne of God in mount 
Sinai, and as the same Moses, from the original, repre- 
sented them afterwards covering the ark, had the head 
and face of a man, wings of an eagle, body of a lion, 
and legs and feet of a calf; but this is not so much to 
our present purpose, for, as we are to allow that whatever 
Satan had of heavenly beauty before the fall, he lost it 
all when he commenced devil ; so to fetch his original 
so far up, would be only to say that he retained no- 
thing but the cloven foot, and that all the rest of him 
was altered and deformed, become frightful and horrible 
as the devil; but his cloven foot, as we now understand it, 
is rather mystical and emblematic, and describes him 
only as the fountain of mischief and treason, and the 
prince of hypocrites, and as such we are now to speak 
of him. 

It is from this original all the hypocritic world copy; 
he wears the foot on their account, and from this 
model they act ; this made our blessed Lord tell them, 
The works of your father ye will do, meaning the 
Devil, as he had expressed it just before. 

Nor does he deny the use of the foot to the meaner 
class of his disciples in the world, but decently equips 
them all, upon every occasion, with a needful propor- 
tion of hypocrisy and deceit, that they may hand on 
the power of promiscuous fraud through all his tem- 
poral dominions, and wear the foot always about them, 
as a badge of their professed share in whatever is done 
by that means. 

Thus every dissembler, every false friend, every 
secret cheat, every bearskin-jobber has a cloven foot, 
and so far hands on the Devil's interest by the same 
powerful agency of art, as the Devil himself uses to act 
when he appears in person, or would act if he was just 
now upon the spot ; for this foot is a machine which is 
to be wound up and wound down, as the cause it ap- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 255 

pears for requires ; and there are agents and engineers 
to act in it by directions of Satan (the grand engineer), 
who lies still in his retirement, only issuing out his 
orders as he sees convenient. 

Again, every class, every trade, every shopkeeper, 
every pedlar, nay, that meanest of tradesmen, that 
church pedlar, the pope, has a cloven foot, with which 
he paw wds upon the world, wishes them all well, and 
at the same time cheats them ; wishes them all fed, and 
at the same time starves them ; wishes them all in 
heaven, and at the same time marches before them 
directly to the Devil, a la mode de cloven foot. 

Nay, the very bench, the everliving foundation of 
justice in the world ; how often has it been made the 
tool of violence, the refuge of oppression, the seat of 
bribery and corruption, by this monster in masquerade, 
and that everywhere (our own country always excepted !) 
they had much better wipe out the picture of Justice 
blinded, and having the sword and scales in her hand, 
which in foreign countries is generally painted over 
the seat of those who sit to do justice, and place instead 
thereof a naked unarmed cloven hoof, a proper emblem 
of that spirit that influences the world, and of the justice 
we often see administered among them ; human imagi- 
nation cannot from an idea more suitable, nor the Devil 
propose an engine more or better qualified for an oper- 
ation of justice, by the influence of bribery and corrup- 
tion ; it is this magnipotent instrument in the hands of 
the Devil, which, under the closest disguise, agitates 
every passion, bribes every affection, blackens every 
virtue, gives a double face to words and actions, and to 
all persons who have any concern in them, and, in a 
word, makes us all devils to one another. 

Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark emblem to 
be distinguished by, for this of a goat was said to be a 
creature hated by mankind from the beginning, and 
that there is a natural antipathy in mankind against 



256 THE MODERN 

them : hence the scape-goat was to bear the sins of the 
people, and to go into the wilderness with all that 
burthen upon him. 

But we have a saying among us, in defence of which 
we must inquire into the proper sphere of action which 
may be assigned to this cloven foot, as hitherto de- 
scribed : the proverb is this ; Every devil has not a 
cloven foot. This proverb, instead of giving us some 
more favourable thoughts of the Devil, confirms what 
I have said already, that the Devil raised this scandal 
upon himself; I mean, the report that he cannot conceal 
or disguise his Devil's foot, or hoof, but that it must 
appear under whatever habit he shows himself; and 
the reason I gave holds good still, namely, that he may 
be more effectually concealed when he goes abroad 
without it : for if the people were fully persuaded that 
the Devil could not appear without this badge of his 
honour, or mark of his infamy, take it as you will ; and 
that he was bound also to show it upon all occasions, it 
would be natural to conclude, that whatever frightful 
appearances might be seen in the world, if the cloven 
foot did not also appear, we had no occasion to look for 
the Devil, or so much as to think of him, much less to 
apprehend he was near us ; and as this might be a 
mistake, and that the Devil might be there while we 
thought ourselves so secure, it might on many occa- 
sions be a mistake of very ill consequence, and in par- 
ticular, as it would give the Devil room to act in the 
dark, and not be discovered, where it might be most 
needful to know him. 

From this short hint, thus repeated, I draw a new 
thesis, namely, that devil is most dangerous that has 
no cloven foot ; or, if you will have it in words more to 
the common understanding, the Devil seems to be 
most dangerous when he goes without his cloven foot. 

And here a learned speculation offers itself to our 
debate, and which indeed I ought to call a council of 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 257 

casuists, and men learned in the Devil's politics, to de- 
termine : — 

Whether is most hurtful to the world, the Devil 
walking about without his cloven foot, or the cloven 
foot walking about without the Devil ? 

It is, indeed, a nice and difficult question, and merits 
to be well inquired into ; for which reason, and divers 
others, I have referred it to be treated with some de- 
cency, and as a dispute of dignity sufficient to take up 
a chapter by itself. 



H. D. 



258 THE MODERN 



CHAP. VII. 



Whether is most hurtful to the icoidd, the Devil walk- 
ing about without his cloven foot, or the cloven foot 
walking about without the Devil? 

In discussing this most critical distinction of Satan's 
private motions, I must, as the pulpit gentlemen direct 
us, explain the text, and let you know what I mean by 
several dark expressions in it, that I may not be un- 
derstood to talk (as the Devil walks) in the dark. 

1. As to the Devil's walking about. 

2. His walking without his cloven foot. 

3. The cloven foot walking about without the Devil. 

Now as I study brevity, and yet would be under- 
stood too, you may please to understand me as I un- 
derstand myself, thus : 

1. That I must be allowed to suppose the Devil 
really has a full intercourse in, and through, and 
about this globe, with egress and regress, for the 
carrying on his special affairs, when, how, and 
where, to his majesty, in his great wisdom, it shall 
seem meet ; that sometimes he appears and be- 
comes visible, and that, like a mastiff without his 
clog, he does not always carry his cloven foot with 
him. This will necessarily bring me to some de- 
bate upon the most important question of appa- 
ritions, hauntings, walkings, &c, whether of Satan in 
human shape, or of human creatures in the Devil's 
shape, or in any other manner whatsoever. 

2. I must also be allowed to tell you that Satan 
has a great deal of wrong done him by the gene- 
ral embracing vulgar errors, and that there is a 
cloven foot oftentimes without a devil; or, in 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 259 

short, that Satan is not guilty of all the simple 
things, no, or of all the wicked things, we charge 
him with. 

These two heads, well settled, will fully explain the 
title of this chapter, answer the query mentioned in it, 
and, at the same time, correspond very well with, and 
give us a further prospect into, the main and original 
design of this work, namely, The History of the Devil. 
We are so fond of, and pleased with, the general notion 
of seeing the Devil, that I am loath to disoblige my 
readers so much as calling in question his visibility 
would do. Nor is it my business, any more than it is 
his, to undeceive them, where the belief is so agreeable 
to them ; especially since upon the whole it is not one 
farthing matter, either on one side or on the other, 
whether it be so or no, or whether the truth of fact be 
ever discovered or not. 

Certain it is, whether we see him or no, here he is, 
and I make no doubt but he is looking on while I am 
writing this part of his story, whether behind me, or 
at my elbow, or over my shoulder, is not material to 
me, nor have I once turned my head about to see 
whether he is there or no ; for if he be not in the in- 
side, I have so mean an opinion of all his extravasated 
powers, that it seems of very little consequence to me 
what shape he takes up, or in what posture he appears ; 
nor indeed can I find in all my inquiry that ever the 
Devil appeared (qua Devil) in any of the most danger- 
ous or important of his designs in the world ; the 
most of his projects, especially of the significant part 
of them, having been carried on another way. 

However, as I am satisfied nobody will be pleased if 
I should dispute the reality of his appearance, and the 
world runs away with it as a received point, and that 
admits no dispute, I shall most readily grant the gene- 
ral, and give you some account of the particulars. 

History is fruitful of particulars, whether invention 
lias supplied them or not, I will not say, where the 

s 2 



260 THE MODERN 

Devil is brought upon the stage in plain and undeni- 
able apparition : the story of Samuel being raised by 
the witch of Endor, I shall leave quite out of my list, 
because there are so many scruples and objections 
against that story ; and as I shall not dispute with the 
Scripture, so, on the other hand, I have so much 
deference for the dignity of the Devil, as not to deter- 
mine rashly how far it may be in the power of every 
old (witch) woman, to call him up whenever she 
pleases, and that he must come, whatever the pretence 
is, or whatever business of consequence he may be en- 
gaged in, as often as it is needful for her to paw wa for 
half a crown, or perhaps less than half the money. 

Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talked 
further with him about it, how far the Devil is con- 
cerned to discover frauds, detect murders, reveal 
secrets, and especially to tell where any money is hid, 
and show folks where to find it ; it is an odd thing 
that Satan should think it of consequence to come and 
tell us where such a miser hid a strong box, or where 
such an old woman buried her chamberpot full of 
money, the value of all which is perhaps but a trifle, 
when, at the same time, he lets so many veins of gold, so 
many unexhausted mines, nay, mountains of silver, (as 
we may depend upon it are hid in the bowels of the 
earth, and which it would be so much to the good of 
whole nations to discover,) lie still there, and never say 
one word of them to anybody. Besides, how does the 
Devil's doing things so foreign to himself, and so out 
of his way, agree with the rest of his character ; namely, 
showing a kind of a friendly disposition to mankind, or 
doing beneficent things ? this is so beneath Satan's 
quality, and looks so little, that I scarce know what to 
say to it ; but that which is still more pungent in the 
case is, these things are so out of his road, and so foreign 
to his calling, that it shocks our faith in them, and 
seems to clash with all the just notions we have of him, 
and of his business in the world. The like is to be 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 261 

said of those little merry turns we bring him in acting 
with us, and upon us, upon trifling and simple occa- 
sions, such as tumbling chairs and stools about house, 
setting pots and vessels bottom upward, tossing the 
glass and crockery ware about without breaking ; and 
such-like mean foolish things, beneath the dignity of 
the Devil, who, in my opinion, is rather employed in 
setting the world with the bottom upward, tumbling 
kings and crowns about, and dashing the nations one 
against another ; raising tempests and storms, whether 
at sea, or on shore ; and, in a word, doing capital mis- 
chiefs, suitable to his nature, and agreeable to his name, 
Devil ; and suited to that circumstance of his condi- 
tion, which I have fully represented in the primitive 
part of his exiled state. 

But to bring in the Devil playing at push-pin with 
the world, or, like Domitian, catching flies, that is to say, 
doing nothing to the purpose, this is not only deluding 
ourselves, but putting a slur upon the Devil himself; 
and, I say, I shall not dishonour Satan so much as to 
suppose anything in it ; however, as I must have a 
care too how I take away the proper materials of winter- 
evening frippery, and leave the good wives nothing of 
the Devil to frighten the children with, I shall carry the 
weighty point no further. No doubt the Devil and 
Dr. Faustus were very intimate ; I should rob you of a 
very significant proverb a , if I should so much as doubt 
it ; no doubt the Devil showed himself in the glass to 
that fair lady who looked in it to see where to place 
her patches ; but then it should follow too that the 
Devil is an enemy to the ladies' wearing patches, and 
that has some difficulties in it which we cannot so easily 
reconcile ; but we must tell the story, and leave out 
the consequences. 

But to come to more remarkable things, and in which 

a As great as the Devil and Doctor Faustus. Vulg. Dr» 
Foster. 



262 THE MODERN 

the Devil has thought fit to act in a figure more suitable 
to his dignity, and on occasions consistent with himself ; 
take the story of the appearance of Julius Caesar, or the 
Devil assuming that murdered emperor, to the great 
Marcus Brutus, who, notwithstanding all the good 
things said to justify it, was no less than a king-killer 
and an assassinator, which we in our language call by 
a very good name, and peculiar to the English tongue, 
a ruffian. 

The spectre had certainly the appearance of Caesar, 
with his wounds bleeding fresh, as if he had just re- 
ceived the fatal blow : he had reproached him with his 
ingratitude, with a Tu Brute ! tu quoque, mi fili ; 
What thou, Brutus! thou, my adopted son! Now history 
seems to agree universally, not only in the story itself, 
but in the circumstances of it ; we have only to observe 
that the Devil had certainly power to assume, not a 
human shape only, but the shape of Julius Caesar in 
particular. 

Had Brutus been a timorous, conscience-harried, 
weak-headed wretch, had he been under the horror of 
the guilt, and terrified with the dangers that were be- 
fore him at that time, we might suggest that he was 
overrun with the vapours, that the terrors which were 
upon his mind disordered him, that his head was deli- 
rious and prepossessed, and that his fancy only placed 
Caesar so continually in his eye, that it realized him to 
his imagination, and he believed he saw him : with 
many other suggested difficulties to invalidate the 
story, and render the reality of it doubtful. 

But the contrary, to an extreme, was the case of 
Brutus : his known character placed him above the 
power of all hypochondriacs, or fanciful delusions ; 
Brutus was of a true Roman spirit, a bold hero, of an 
intrepid courage ; one that scorned to fear even the 
Devil, as the story allows ; besides, he gloried in the 
action, there could be no terror of mind upon him, he 
valued himself upon it, as done in the service of liberty, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 263 

and the cause of his country ; and was so far from 
being frightened at the Devil, in the worst shape, that 
he spoke first to him, and asked him, What art thou ? 
and when he was cited to see him again at Philippi, 
answered, with a gallantry that knew no fear, Well, I 
will see thee there. Whatever the Devil's business 
was with Brutus, this is certain, according to all the 
historians who give us the account of it, that Brutus 
discovered no fear ; he did not, like Saul at Endor, fall 
to the ground in a swoon, 1 Sam. xxviii. 20. Then 
Saul fell all along upon the earth, and there ivas no 
strength in him, and ivas sore afraid. In a word, I 
see no room to charge Brutus with being overrun 
with the hyppo, or with vapours, or with fright and 
terror of mind ; but he saw the Devil, that is certain, 
and with eyes open, his courage not at all daunted, his 
mind resolute, and, with the utmost composure, spoke 
to him, replied to his answer, and defied his summons 
to death, which, indeed, he feared not, as appeared 
afterwards. 

I come next to an instance as eminent in history as 
the other ; this was in Charles VI. of France, surnamed 
the Beloved, who, riding over the forest near Mans, a 
ghastly, frightful fellow, (that is to say, the Devil, so 
clothed in human vizor,) came up to his horse, and, 
taking hold of his bridle, stopped him, with the addi- 
tion of these words, Stop, king, whither go you ? you 
are betrayed ! and immediately disappeared. It is true, 
the king had been distempered in his head before, and 
so he might have been deceived, and we might have 
charged it to the account of a whimsical brain, or the 
power of his imagination ; but this was in the face of 
his attendants, several of his great officers, courtiers, 
and princes of the blood being with him, who all saw 
the man, heard the words, and immediately, to their 
astonishment, lost sight of the spectre, who vanished 
from them all. 

Two witnesses will convict a murderer ; why not a 



264 THE MODERN 

traitor ? This must be the Old Gentleman, emblem- 
atically so called ; or who must it be ? nay, who else 
could it be ? His ugliness is not the case, though 
ugly as the Devil is a proverb in his favour; but 
vanishing out of sight is an essential to a spirit, and to 
an evil spirit, in our times especially. 

These are some of the Devil's extraordinaries, and, it 
must be confessed, they are not the most agreeable to 
mankind, for sometimes he takes upon him to disorder 
his friends very much on these occasions, as in the 
above case of Charles VI. of France ; the king, they 
say, was really demented ever after, that is, as we vul- 
garly, but not always improperly, express it, he was 
really frightened out of his wits. Whether the mali- 
cious Devil intended it so or not, is not certain ; 
though it was not so foreign to his particular disposition 
if he did. 

But where he is more intimate, we are told, he ap- 
pears in a manner less disagreeable ; and there he is 
more properly a familiar spirit, that is, in short, a devil 
of their acquaintance ; it is true, the ancients under- 
stood the word, a familiar spirit, to be one of the kinds 
of possession ; but if it serves our turn as well under 
the denomination of an intimate devil, or a devil visit- 
ant, it must be acknowledged to be as near, in the 
literal sense and acceptation of the word, as the other ; 
nay, it must be allowed, it is a very great piece of 
familiarity in the Devil to make visits, and show none 
of his disagreeables, not appear formidable, or in the 
shape of what he is, respectfully withholding his dis- 
mal part, in compassion to the infirmities of his friends. 

It is true, Satan may be obliged to make different 
appearances, as the several circumstances of things call 
for it ; in some cases he makes his public entry, and 
then he must show himself in his habit of ceremony ; 
in other cases he comes upon private business, and 
then he appears in disguise ; in some public cases he 
may think fit to be incog., and then he appears dressed 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 265 

a la masque; so, they say, he appeared at the famous 
St. Bartholomew wedding at Paris, where he came in 
dressed up like a trumpeter, danced in his habit, 
sounded a levet, and then went out and rung the 
alarm-bell (which was the signal to begin the massacre) 
half an hour before the time appointed, lest the king's 
mind should alter, and his heart fail him. 

If the story be not made upon him, (for we should 
not slander the Devil,) it should seem he was not 
thoroughly satisfied in king Charles IX.'s steadiness in 
his cause ; for the king, it seems, had relaxed a little 
once before, and Satan might be afraid he would fall 
off again, and so prevent the execution ; others say, 
the king did relent immediately after the ringing 
the alarm-bell, but that then it was too late, the work 
was begun, and the rage of blood having been let loose 
among the people, there was no recalling the order. 
If the Devil was thus brought to the necessity of a 
secret management, it must be owned he did it dex- 
terously ; but I have not authority enough for the 
story to charge him with the particulars, so I leave it 
au croc. 

I have much better vouchers for the story following, 
which I had so solemnly confirmed by one that lived 
in the family, that I never doubted the truth of it. 
There lived in the parish of St. Bennet Fynk, near the 
Royal Exchange, an honest, poor, widow woman, who, 
her husband being lately dead, took lodgers into her 
house ; that is, she let out some of her rooms, in order 
to lessen her own charge of rent ; among the rest, she 
let her garrets to a working watchwheel maker, or one 
some way concerned in making the movements of 
watches, and who worked to those shopkeepers who 
sell watches, as is usual. 

It happened that a man and woman went up to 
speak with this movement-maker upon some business 
which related to his trade, and when they were near 



266 THE MODERN 

the top of the stairs, the garret-door where he usually 
worked being wide open, they saw the poor man (the 
watchmaker, or wheelrnaker) had hanged himself 
upon a beam which was left open in the room, a little 
lower than the plaster, or ceiling ; surprised at the 
sight, the woman stopped, and cried out to the man 
w r ho w r as behind her on the stairs, that he should run 
up and cut the poor creature down. 

At that very moment comes a man hastily from an- 
other part of the room which they upon the stairs 
could not see, bringing a joint-stool in his hand, as if 
in great haste, and sets it down just by the wretch that 
was hanged, and getting up as hastily upon it, pulls a 
knife out of his pocket, and taking hold of the rope 
with one of his hands, beckoned to the woman and the 
man behind her with his head, as if to stop and not 
come up, showing them the knife in his other hand, as 
if he was just going to cut the poor man down. 

Upon this, the woman stopped a while, but the man 
who stood on the joint-stool continued with his hand 
and knife as if fumbling at the knot, but did not yet 
cut the man down ; at which the woman cried out 
again, and the man behind her called to her, Go up, 
says he, and help the man upon the stool ! supposing 
something hindered. But the man upon the stool made 
signs to them again to be quiet, and not come on, as 
if saying, I shall do it immediately ; then he made two 
strokes with his knife, as if cutting the rope, and then 
stopped again ; and still the poor man was hanging, 
and consequently dying : upon this, the woman on the 
stairs cried out to him, What ails you ? why don't you 
cat the poor man down ? And the man behind her, 
having no more patience, thrusts her by, and said to 
her, Let me come, I'll warrant you I'll do it; and with 
that runs up and forward into the room to the man ; 
but when he came there, behold, the poor man was 
there hanging : but no man with a knife, or joint-stool, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 267 

or any such thing to be seen, all that was spectre and 
delusion, in order, no doubt, to let the poor creature 
that had hanged himself perish and expire. 

The man was so frightened and surprised, that, with all 
the courage he had before, he dropped on the floor as 
one dead, and the woman at last was fain to cut the 
poor man down with a pair of scissors, and had much 
to do to effect it. 

As I have no room to doubt the truth of this story, 
which I had from persons on whose honesty I could de- 
pend, so I think it needs very little trouble to convince 
us who the man upon the stool must be, and that it 
was the Devil who placed himself there in order to 
finish the murder of the man whom he had, devil-like, 
tempted before, and prevailed with to be his own ex- 
ecutioner. Besides, it corresponds so well with the 
Devil's nature, and with his business, viz. that of a mur- 
derer, that I never questioned it ; nor can I think we 
wrong the Devil at all to charge him with it. 

N. B. I cannot be positive in the remaining part of 
this story, viz. whether the man was cut down 
soon enough to be recovered, or whether the 
Devil carried his point, and kept off the man and 
woman till it was too late ; but be it which it will, 
it is plain he did his devilish endeavour, and 
stayed till he was forced to abscond again. 
We have many solid tales well attested, as well in 
history as in the reports of honest people, who could 
not be deceived, intimating the Devil's personal ap- 
pearance, some in one place, some in another ; as also 
sometimes in one habit or dress, and sometimes in an- 
other ; and it is to be observed, that in none of those 
which are most like to be real, and in which there is 
least of fancy and vapour, you have any mention of the 
cloven foot, which rather seems to be a mere invention 
of men, and perhaps chiefly of those who had a cloven 
understanding ; I mean a shallow kind of craft, the ef- 
fect of an empty and simple head, thinking by such a 



268 THE MODERN 

well-meant, though weak fraud, to represent the Devil 
to the old women and children of the age, with some 
addition suitable to the weakness of their intellects, 
and suited to making them afraid of him. 

I have another account of a person who travelled 
upwards of four years with the Devil in his company, 
and conversed most intimately with him all the while ; 
nay, if I may believe the story, he knew most part of 
the time that he was the Devil, and yet conversed with 
him, and that very profitably, for he performed many 
very useful services for him, and constantly preserved 
him from the danger of wolves and wild beasts, which the 
country he travelled through was intolerably full of: 
where, by the way, you are to understand that the 
wolves and bears in those countries knew the Devil, 
whatever disguise he went in ; or that the Devil 
has some way to fright bears, and such creatures, more 
than we know of: nor could this devil ever be pre- 
vailed upon to hurt him or any of his company. This 
account has an innumerable number of diverting inci- 
dents attending it ; but they are equal to all the rest 
in bulk, and, therefore, too long for this book. 

I find, too, upon some more ordinary occasions, the 
Devil has appeared to several people at their call. 
This, indeed, shows abundance of good humour in him, 
considering him as a devil, and that he was mighty 
complaisant : nay, some, they tell us, have a power to 
raise the Devil whenever they think fit ; this I cannot 
bring the Devil to a level with, unless I should allow 
him to be servus servorum, as another devil in dis- 
guise calls himself, subjected to every old wizard's call ; 
or that he is under a necessity of appearing on such 
or such particular occasions, whoever it is that calls 
him ; which would bring the Devil's circumstances 
to a pitch of slavery which I see no reason to believe 
of them. 

Here, also, I must take notice again, that though I 
say the Devil, when I speak of all these apparitions, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 269 

whether of a greater or lesser kind, yet I am not 
obliged to suppose Satan himself, in person, is con- 
cerned to show himself, but that some of his agents, 
deputies, and servants, are sent to that purpose, and 
directed what disguise of flesh and blood to put on, as 
may be suitable to the occasion. 

This seems to be the only way to reconcile all those 
simple and ridiculous appearances which, not Satan, 
but his emissaries, (which we old women call imps,) 
sometimes make, and the mean and sorry employ- 
ment they are put to. Thus fame tells us of a cer- 
tain witch of quality, who called the Devil once to 
carry her over a brook where the water was swelled 
with a hasty rain, and lashed him soundly with her 
whip for letting her ladyship fall into the water before 
she was quite over. Thus also, as fame tells us, she 
set the Devil to work, and made him build Croiland 
abbey, where there was no foundation to be found, 
only for disturbing the workmen a little who were first 
set about it. So, it seems, another laborious devil 
was obliged to dig the great ditch across the country 
from the fen country to the edge of Suffolk and Essex ; 
which, however, he has preserved the reputation of, 
and, where it crosses Newmarket heath, it is called 
Devil's Ditch to this day. 

Another piece of punishment, no doubt it was, when 
the Devil was obliged to bring the stones out of Wales 
into Wiltshire to build Stonehenge. How this was 
ordered in those days, when it seems they kept Satan 
to hard labour, I know not ; I believe it must be re- 
gistered among the ancient pieces of art which are 
lost in the world, such as melting of stones, painting 
of glass, &c. Certainly they had the Devil under 
correction in those days, that is to say, those lesser 
sorts of devils ; but I cannot think that the 'muckle 
thief Devil,' as they call him in the North, the grand 
seignior Devil of all, was ever reduced to discipline. 
What devil it was that Dunstan took by the nose with 



270 THE MODERN 

his red hot tongs, I have not yet examined antiquity 
enough to be certain of, any more than I can what 
devil it was that St. Francis played so many warm 
tricks with, and made him run away from him so 
often. However, this I take upon me to say in the 
Devil's behalf, that it could not be our Satan, the arch- 
devil of all devils, of whom I have been talking so 
so long. 

Nor is it unworthy the occasion, to take notice that 
we really wrong the Devil, and speak of him very 
much to his disadvantage, when we say of such a great 
lord, or of such a lady of quality, I think the Devil is 
in your grace. No, no, Satan has other business ; he 
very rarely possesses f — Is: besides, some are so far 
from having the Devil in them, that they are really 
transmigrated into the very essence of the Devil 
themselves ; and others again, not transmigrated, or 
assimilated, but in deed and in truth show us that they 
are, or have, mere native devils in every part and parcel 
of them, and that the rest is only mask and disguise. 
Thus, if rage, envy, pride, and revenge, can constitute 
the parts of a devil, why should not a lad} 7 of such quality, 
in whom all those extraordinaries abound, have a right 
to the title of being a devil really and substantially, 
and to all intents and purposes, in the most perfect 
and absolute sense, according to the most exquisite 
descriptions of devils already given by me or anybody 
else ; and even just as Joan of Arc, or Joan, queen of 
Naples, were, who were both sent home to their native 
country, as soon as it was discovered that they were 
real devils, and that Satan acknowledged them in that 
quality. 

Nor does my lady d ss's, wearing sometimes a 

case of humanity about her, called flesh and blood, at 
all alter the case : for so it is evident, according to our 
present hypothesis, Satan has been always allowed to 
do, upon urgent occasions ; ay, and to make his per- 
sonal appearance as such, among even the sons and 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 271 

daughters of God too, as well as among the children of 
men; and, therefore, her grace may have appeared in 
the shape of a fine lady, as long she has been supposed 
to do, without any impeachment of her just claim to 
the title of Devil ; which, being her true and natural 
original, she ought not, nor indeed shall not, by me, 
be denied her shapes of honour, whenever she pleases 
to declare for a re-assumption. 

And further, to give every truth its due illustration, 
this need not be thought so strange ; and is far from 
being unjust ; her grace (as she, it may be, is now 
styled) has not acted, at least that I ever heard of, so 
unworthy her great and illustrious original, that we 
should think she has lost anything by walking about 
the world so many years in apparition ; but to give 
her the due homage of her quality, she has acted as 
consonant to the essence and nature of devil, which 
she has such a claim to, as was consistent with the 
needful reserve of her present disguise. 

Nor shall we lead the reader into any mistake con- 
cerning this part of our work, as if this was, or is meant 

to be, a particular satire upon the d ss of , 

and upon her only, as if we had no devils among us in 
the phenomena of fair ladies but this one : if Satan 
would be so honest to us as he might be, (and it would 
be very ingenuous in him, that must be acknowledged, 
to give us a little of his illumination in this case,) we 
should soon be able to unmask a great many notable 
figures among us, to our real surprise. 

Indeed it is a point worth our further inquiry, and 
would be a discovery many ways to our advantage, 
were we blessed with it, to see how many real devils 
we have walking up and down the world in mask, 
and how many hoop-petticoats complete the entire 
mask that disguises the Devil in the shape of that 
thing called woman. 

As for the men, nature has satisfied herself in letting 
them be their own disguise, and in suffering them to 



272 THE MODERN 

act the old woman, as old women are vulgarly under- 
stood, in matters of council and politics ; but if at any- 
time they have occasion for the Devil in person, they 
are obliged to call him to their aid in such shape as he 
pleases to make use of, pro hac vice ; and of all those 
shapes, the most agreeable to him seems to be that of 
a female of quality, in which he has infinite opportunity 
to act to perfection what part soever he is called in 
for. 

How happy are those people who they say have the 
particular quality, or acquired habit, called the second 
sight ; one sort of whom they tell us are able to dis- 
tinguish the Devil, in whatever case or outside of flesh 
and blood he is pleased to put on, and consequently 
could know the Devil wherever they met him ? Were 
I blessed with this excellent and useful accomplishment, 
how pleasant would it be, and how would it particu- 
larly gratify my spleen, and all that which I, in common 
with my fellow creatures carry about me, called ill- 
nature, to stand in the Mall, or at the entrance to any 
of our assemblies of beauties, and point them out as 
they pass by, with this particular mark, That's a devil; 
that fine young toast is a devil ; there's a devil dressed 
in a new habit for the ball ; there's a devil in a coach 
and six, cum aliis. In short, it would make a merry 
world among us if we could but enter upon some 
proper method of such discriminations : but, Lawr'd, 

what a hurricane would it raise, if. like , who 

they say scourged the Devil so often that he durst not 
come near him in any shape whatever, we could find 
some new method out to make the Devil unmask ; like 
the angel Uriel, who, Mr. Milton says, had an en- 
chanted spear, with which if he did but touch the 
Devil, in whatever disguise he had put on, it obliged 
him immediately to start up, and show himself in his 
true original shape, mere devil as he was. 

This would do nicely, and as I who am originally a 
projector, have spent some time upon this study, and 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 273 

doubt not in a little time to finish my engine, which I 
am contriving, to screw the Devil out of everybody, or 
anybody ; I question not, when I have brought it to 
perfection, but I shall make most excellent discoveries 
by it ; and besides the many extraordinary advantages 
of it to human society, I doubt not but it will make 
good sport in the world too ; wherefore, when I pub- 
lish my proposals, and divide it into shares, as other 
less useful projects have been done, I question not, for 
all the severe act lately passed against bubbles, but I 
shall get subscribers enough, &c. 

In a word, a secret power of discovering what devils 
we have among us, and where and what business they 
are doing, would be a vast advantage to us all ; that 
we might know among the crowd of devils that walk 
about streets, who are apparitions, and who are not. 

Now I, you must know, at certain intervals, when 
the old gentleman's illuminations are upon me, and 
when I have something of an eclaircissement with him, 
have some degrees of this discriminating second sight, 
and therefore it is no strange thing for me to tell a 
great many of my acquaintance that they are really 
devils, when they themselves know nothing of the mat- 
ter: sometimes, indeed, I find it pretty hard to con- 
vince them of it, or at least they are very unwilling to 
own it, but it is not the less so for that. 

I had a long discourse upon this subject one day, 
with a young beautiful lady of my acquaintance, whom 
the world very much admired ; and as the world 
judges no further than they can see, (and how should 
they? you would say,) they took her to be, as she 
really was, a most charming creature. 

To me, indeed, she discovered herself many ways, 
besides the advantage I had of my extraordinary pene- 
tration by the magic powers which I am vested with : 
to me, I say, she appeared a fury, a satyr, a fiery little 
fiend, as could possibly be dressed up in flesh; in 
short, she appeared to me what really she was, a very 

H. D. T 



274 THE MODERN 

devil. It is natural to human creatures to desire to 
discover any extraordinary powers they are possessed 
of superior to others, and this itch prevailing in me, 
among the rest, I was impatient to let this lady know 
that I understood her composition perfectly well, nay, 
as well as she did herself. 

In order to this, happening to be in the family once 
for some days, and having the honour to be very inti- 
mate with her and her husband too, I took an oppor- 
tunity on an extraordinary occasion, when she was in 
the height of good humour, to talk with her. You 
must note that, as I said, the lady was in an extraor- 
dinary good humour, and there had been a great deal 
of mirth in the family for some days ; but one evening, 

sir Ed , her husband, upon some very sharp turn 

she gave to another gentleman, which made all the 
company pleasant, ran to her, and with a passion of 
good humour, takes her in his arms, and turning to 
me, says he, Jack, this wife of mine is full of wit and 
good humour, but when she has a mind to be smart, 
she is the keenest little devil in the world : this was 
alluding to the quick turn she had given the other 
gentleman. 

Is that the best language you can give your wife? 
says my lady. O madam, says I, such devils as you, 
are all angels. Ay, ay, says my lady, I know that, he 
has only let a truth fly out that he does not under- 
stand. Look ye there, now, says sir Edward, could any- 
thing but such a dear devil as this have said a thing 
so pointed ? Well, well, adds he, devil to a lady in a 
man's arms, is a word of divers interpretations. Thus 
they rallied for a good while, he holding her fast all 
the while in his arms, and frequently kissing her; and 
at last it went off, all in sunshine and mirth. 

But the next day, (for I had the honour to lodge in 
the lady's father's house, where it all happened ;) I say, 
the next day my lady begins with me upon the sub- 
ject, and that very smartly, so that at first I did not 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 275 

know whether she was in jest or earnest. Ay, ay, says 
she, you men make nothing of your wives after you 
have them ; alluding to the discourse with sir Edward, 
the night before. 

Why madam, says I, we men, as you are pleased to 
term it, if we meet with good wives, worship them, 
and make idols of them ; what would you have more of 
us? 

No, no, says she, before you have them, they are 
angels ; but when you have been in heaven, adds she, 
and smiled, then they are devils. 

Why madam, says I, devils are angels, you know, 
and were the highest sort of angels once. 

Yes, says she, very smartly, all devils are angels, but 
all angels are not devils. 

But madam, says I, you should never take it ill to be 
called devil, you know. 

I know ! says she, hastily, what d'ye mean by that ? 

Why madam, says I, (and looked very gravely and 
serious,) I thought you had known that I knew it, or 
else I would not have said so, for I would not offend 
you; but you may depend I shall never discover it, 
unless you order me to do so for your particular ser- 
vice. 

Upon this she looked hard and wild, and bid me 
explain myself. 

I told her I was ready to explain myself, if she would 
give me her word she would not resent it, and would 
take nothing ill. 

She gave me her word solemnly she would not, 
though, like a true devil, she broke her promise with me 
all at once. 

Well, however, being unconcerned whether she kept 
her word or no, I began by telling her that I had long 
since obtained the second sight, and had some years 
studied magic, by which I could penetrate into many 
things which to ordinary perception were invisible, 
and had some glasses by the help of which I could see 

t2 



276 THE MODERN 

into all visionary or imaginary appearances in a differ- 
ent manner than other people did. 

Very well, says she, suppose you can, what's that to 
me? 

I told her it was nothing to her any further than that 
as she knew herself to be originally not the same crea- 
ture she seemed to be, but was of a sublime angelic 
original ; so, by the help of my recited art, I knew it 
too, and so far it might relate to her. 

Very fine, says she ; so you would make a devil of me, 
indeed. 

I took that occasion to tell her I would make no- 
thing of her but what she was ; that I supposed she 
knew well enough God Almighty never thought fit to 
make any human creature so perfect and completely 
beautiful as she was, but that such were only reserved 
for figures to be assumed by angels of one kind or an- 
other. 

She rallied me upon that, and told me that would 
not bring me off*, for I had not determined her for any- 
thing angelic, but a mere devil ; and how could I flat- 
ter her with being handsome and a devil both at the 
same time ? 

I told her, as Satan, whom we abusively called 
Devil, was an immortal seraph, and of an original an- 
gelic nature, so, abstracted from anything wicked, he 
was a most glorious being ; that when he thought fit to 
incase himself with flesh, and walk about in disguise, 
it was in his power, equally with the other angels, to 
make the form he took upon himself be, as he thought 
fit, beautiful or deformed. 

Here she disputed the possibility of that, and after 
charging me faintly with flattering her face, told me 
the Devil could not be represented by anything hand- 
some, alleging our constant picturing the Devil in all 
the frightful appearances imaginable. 

I told her we wronged him very much in that, and 
quoted St. Francis, to whom the Devil frequently ap- 



HISTOKY OF THE DEVIL. 277 

peared in the form of the most incomparably beautiful 
naked woman, to allure him, and what means he used 
to turn the appearance into a devil again, and how he 
effected it. 

She put by the discourse, and returned to that of 
angels, and insisted that angels did not always assume 
beautiful appearances ; that sometimes they appeared 
in terrible shapes, but that when they did not, it was 
at best only amiable faces, not exquisite ; and that 
therefore it would not hold, that to be handsome 
should always render them suspected. 

I told her the Devil had more occasion to form 
beauties than other angels had, his business being 
principally to deceive and ensnare mankind. And 
then I gave her some examples upon the whole. 

I found, by her discourse, she was willing enough to 
pass for an angel, but it was the hardest thing in the 
world to convince her that she was a devil, and she 
would not come into that by any means ; she argued 
that I knew her father, and that her mother was a very 
good woman, and was delivered of her in the ordinary 
way, and that there were such and such ladies who 
were present in the room when she was born, and that 
had often told her so. 

I told her that was nothing in such a case as hers ; 
that when the old gentleman had occasion to transform 
himself into a fine lady, he could easily dispose of a 
child, and place himself in the cradle instead of it, 
when the nurse or mother were asleep ; nay, or when 
they were broad awake either, it was the same thing 
to him ; and I quoted Luther to her upon that occasion, 
who affirms that it had been so. However, I said, to 
convince her that I knew it, (for I would have it that 
she knew it already,) if she pleased I would go to my 
chamber and fetch her my magic looking-glass, where 
she should see her own picture, not only as it was an 
angelic picture for the world to admire, but a devil 



278 THE MODERN 

also frightful enough to anybody but herself and me 
that understood it. 

No, no, said she, I will look in none of your conjur- 
ing glasses ; I know myself well enough, and I desire 
to look no otherwise than I am. 

No, madam, says I, I know that very well ; nor do 
you need any better shape than that you appear in, it 
is most exquisitely fine ; all the world knows you are 
a complete beauty, and that is a clear evidence what 
you would be, if your present appearing form was re- 
duced to its proper personality. 

Appearing form ! says she, why, what ! would you 
make an apparition of me ? 

An apparition, madam ! said I ; yes, to be sure : why 
you know you are nothing else but an apparition ; 
and what else would you be, when it is so infinitely to 
your advantage ? 

With that, she turned pale and angry, and then rose 
up hastily, and looked into the glass, (a large pier- 
glass being in the room,) where she stood surveying 
herself from head to foot, with vanity not a little. 
I took that time to slip away, and running up into 
my apartment, I fetched my magic glass, as I 
called it, in which I had a hollow case, so framed, 
behind a looking-glass, that in the first she would 
see her own face only ; in the second, she would 
see the Devil's face, ugly and frightful enough, 
but dressed up with a lady's head-clothes in a 
circle, the Devil's face in the centre, and, as it 
were, at a little distance behind. 
I came down again so soon that she did not think 
the time long, especially having spent it in surveying 
her fair self ; when I returned, I said, Come, madam, 
do not trouble yourself to look there, that is not a glass 
capable of showing you anything ; come, take this 
glass. 

It will show me as much of myself, says she, a little 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 279 

scornfully, as I desire to see ; so she continued looking 
in the pier-glass ; after some time more, (for seeing 
her a little out of humour, I waited to see what obser- 
vations she would make,) I asked her if she had viewed 
herself to her satisfaction ? She said she had, and she 
had seen nothing of devil about her. Come, madam, 
said I, look here ; and with that I opened the looking- 
glass, and she looked in it, but saw nothing but her 
own face. Well, says she, the glasses agree well enough, 
I see no difference ; what can you make of it ? With 
that I took it a little away. Don't you ? says I, then I 
should be mistaken very much ; so I looked in it 
myself, and giving it a turn imperceptible to her, I 
showed it her again, where she saw the Devil indeed, 
dressed up like a fine lady, but ugly and devil-like as 
could be desired for a devil to be. 

She started, and cried out most horribly, and told 
me she thought I was more of a devil than she, for 
that she knew nothing of all those tricks, and I did it 
to frighten her, she believed I had raised the Devil. 

I told her it was nothing but her own natural 
picture, and that she knew well enough, and that I did 
not show it her to inform her of it, but to let her know 
that I knew it too ; that so she might make no pre- 
tences of being offended when I talked familiarly to 
her of a thing of this nature. 

Very well ; so, says she, I am a real frightful devil, 
am I? 

O, madam, says I, don't say, Am I ? why you know 
what you are, don't you ? A devil ! ay, certainly ; as 
sure as the rest of the world believes you a lady. 

I had a great deal of further discourse with her upon 
that subject, though she would fain have beat me off of 
it, and two or three times she put the talk off, and 
brought something else on ; but I always found means 
to revive it, and to attack her upon the reality of her 
being a devil, till at last I made her downright angry, 
and then she showed it. 



280 THE MODERN 

First she cried, told me I came to affront her, that 

I would not talk so if sir Ed was by, and that she 

ought not to be used so. I endeavoured to pacify her, 
and told her I had not treated her with any indecency, 
nor I would not ; because while she thought fit to 
walk abroad incog., it was none of my business to dis- 
cover her ; that if she thought fit to tell sir Ed — — 
anything of the discourse, she was very welcome, or to 
conceal it, (which I thought the wisest course,) she 
should do just as she pleased ; but I made no question 

I should convince sir Ed , her husband, that what 

I said was just, and that it was really so ; whether it 
was for her service or no for him to know it, was for 
her to consider. 

This calmed her a little, and she looked hard at 
me a minute, without speaking a word, when, on a 
sudden, she broke out thus : And you will undertake, 

says she, to convince sir Ed that he has married 

a devil, will ye ? a fine story indeed ! and what fol- 
lows ? why then it must follow, that the child I go with 
(for she was big with child) will be a devil too, will it? 
a fine story for sir Ed , indeed ! isn't it ? 

I don't know that, madam, said I, that's as you 
order it ; by the father's side, said I, I know it will 
not, but what it may by the mother's side, that's a 
doubt I can't resolve till the Devil and I talk further 
about it. 

You and the Devil talk together ! says she, and looks 
ruefully at me ; why, do you talk with the Devil, then ? 

Ay, madam, says I, as sure as ever you did yourself; 
besides, said I, can you question that ? pray who am 
I talking to now ? 

I think you are mad, says she ; why you will make 
devils of all the family, it may be, and particularly I 
must be with child of a devil, that's certain. 

No, madam, said I, 'tis not certain ; as I said before, 
I question it. 

Why, you say I am the Devil ; the child, you know, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 281 

has always most of the mother in it, then that must be 
a devil too, I think ; what else can it be ? says she. 

I can't tell that, madam, said I; that's as you 
agree among yourselves : this kind does not go by 
generation; that's a dispute foreign to the present 
purpose. 

Then I entered into a discourse with her of the ends 
and purposes for which the Devil takes up such beau- 
tiful forms as hers, and why it always gave me a sus- 
picion when I saw a lady handsomer than ordinary, 
and set me upon the search, to be satisfied whether 
she was really a woman, or an apparition ; a lady or a 
devil; allowing all along that her being a devil was 
quite out of the question. 

Upon that very foot she took me up again roundly ; 
And so, says she, you are very civil to me through all 
your discourse, for I see it ends all in that, and you 
take it as a thing confessed, that I am a devil ! a very 
pretty piece of good usage indeed, says she ; I thank 
you for it. 

Nay, madam, says I, do not take it ill of me, for I 
only discover to you that I knew it ; I do not tell it 
you as a secret, for you are satisfied of that another 
way. 

Satisfied of w T hat ? says she ; that I am a devil ? I 
think the Devil's in you : and so began to be hot. 

A devil ! yes, madam, says I, without doubt a mere 
devil; take it as you please, I can't help that: and 
so I began to take it ill that she should be disgusted 
at opening such a well-known truth to her. 

With that she discovered it all at once, for she 
turned fury, in the very letter of it ; flew out in a 
passion, railed at me, cursed me most heartily, and 
immediately disappeared ; which, you know, is the par- 
ticular mark of a spirit or apparition. 

We had a great deal of discourse besides this, re- 
lating to several other young ladies of her acquaint- 
ance, some of which, I said, were mere apparitions like 



282 THE MODERN 

herself; and told her which were so, and which not; 
and the reason why they were so, and for what uses 
and purposes, some to delude the world one way, and 
some another ; and she was pretty well pleased to hear 
that, but she could not bear to hear her own true 
character, which, however, as cunning as she was, made 
her act the devil at last, as you have heard ; and then 
vanished out of my sight. 

I have seen her in miniature several times since, but 
she proves herself still to be the devil of a lady, for she 
bears malice, and will never forgive me that I would 
not let her be an angel ; but like a very devil as she 
is, she endeavours to kill me at a distance ; and indeed 
the poison of her eyes (basilisk-like) is very strong, 
and she has a strange influence upon me ; but I, that 
know her to be a devil, strive very hard with myself 
to drive the memory of her out of my thoughts. 

I have had two or three engagements since this, 
with other apparitions of the same sex, and I find they 
are all alike, they are willing enough to be thought 
angels, but the word devil does not go down at all with 
them ; but it is all one, whenever we see an apparition, 
it is so natural to say we have seen the Devil, that 
there is no prevailing with mankind to talk any other 
language. A gentleman of my acquaintance, the other 
day, that had courted a lady a long time, had the mis- 
fortune to come a little suddenly upon her, when she 
did not expect him, and found her in such a rage at 
some of her servants, that it quite disordered her, 
especially a footman ; the fellow had done something 
that was indeed provoking, but not sufficient to put 
her into such a passion, and so out of herself; nor was 
she able to restrain herself when she saw her lover 
come in, but damned the fellow, and raged like a fury 
at him. 

My friend did his best to compose her, and begged 
the fellow's pardon of her, but it would not do ; nay, 
the poor fellow made all the submissions that could be 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 283 

expected, but it was the same thing : and so the 
gentleman, not caring to engage himself further than 
became him, withdrew, and came no more at her for 
three days, in all which time she was hardly cool. 

The next day my friend came to me, and talking of 
it in confidence to me, I am afraid, says he, I am going 
to marry a she-devil ; and so told me the story : I took 
no notice to him, but finding out his mistress, and 
taking proper measures, with some of my particular 
skill, I soon found out that it was really so, that she 
was a mere apparition ; and had it not been for that 
accidental disorder of her passions, which discovered 
her inside, she might indeed have cheated any man, 
for she was a lovely devil as ever was seen ; she talked 
like an angel, sung like a syren, did everything, and 
said everything, that was taking and charming; but 
what then ? it was all apparition, for she was a mere 
devil. It is true, my friend married her, and though 
she was a devil without doubt, yet either she behaved 
so well, or he was so good, I never could hear him find 
fault with her. 

These are particular instances ; but, alas ! I could 
run you a length beyond all those examples, and give 
you such a list of devils among the gay things of the 
town, that would frighten you to think of; and you would 
presently conclude with me, that all the perfect beau- 
ties are devils, mere apparitions ; but time and paper 
fails, so we must only leave the men the caution, let 
them venture at their peril. I return to the subject. 

We have a great many charming apparitions of like 
kind go daily about the world in complete masquerade, 
and, though we must not say so, they are in themselves 
mere devils, wicked, dangerous, murdering devils, that 
kill various ways ; some, basilisk-like, with their eyes ; 
some, syren-like, with their tongues ; all murderers, 
even from the beginning. It is true, it is pity these 
pretty apparitions should be devils, and be so mis- 
chievous asthey are ; but, since it is so, I can do no less 



284 THE MODERN 

than to advertise you of it, that you may shun the Devil 
in whatever shape you meet with him. 

Again, there are some half devils, they say, like the 
Sagittarii, half man, half horse; or rather, like the Satyr, 
who, they say, is half devil, half man ; or, like my lord 
bishop, who, they say, was half-headed : whether they 
mean half-witted or no, I do not find authors agreed 
about it ; but if they had voted him such, it had been 
as kind a thing as any they could say of him, because 
it would have cleared him from the scandal of being a 
devil or half a devil, for we don't find the Devil makes 
any alliance with f — Is. 

Then as to merry devils, there is my master G 

he may indeed have the Devil in him, but it must be 
said, to the credit of possession in general, that Satan 
would have scorned to have entered into a soul so narrow 
that there was not room to hold him, or to take up with 
so discording a creature, so abject, so scoundrel, as 
never made a figure among mankind greater than that 
of a thief, a marauder, moulded up into quality, and a 
rapparee dressed up, a-la-masque, with a robe and a 
coronet. 

Some little dog-kennel devil may, indeed, take up his 
quarters in or near him, and so run into and out of him 
as his drum beats a call : but to him that was born a 
devil, Satan, that never acts to no purpose, could not 
think him worth being possessed by anything better 
than a devil of a dirty quality ; that is to say, a spirit too 
mean to wear the name of devil, without some badge 
or addition of infamy and meanness to distinguish it 

Thus what devil of quality would be confined to a 

P n, who, inheriting all the pride and insolence of 

his ancestors, without one of their good qualities ; the 
bully, the Billingsgate, and all the hereditary ill language 
of his family, without an ounce of their courage ; that 
has been rescued five or six times from the scandal of 
a coward, by the bravery, and at the hazard, of friends, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVLL. 285 

and never failed to be ungrateful ; that if ever he com- 
mitted a murder, did it in cold blood, because nobody 
could prove he ever had any hot ; who, possessed with 
a poltroon devil, was always wickeder in the dark than 
he durst be by daylight ; and who, after innumerable 
passive sufferings, has been turned out of human society, 
because he could not be kicked or cuffed either into 
good manners or good humour. 

To say this was a devil, an apparition, or even a 
half devil, would be unkind to Satan himself, since 
though he (the Devil) has so many millions of inferior 
devils under his command, not one could be found 
base enough to match him, nor one devil found but 
what would think himself dishonoured to be employed 
about him. 

Some merry, good for nothing devils we have, indeed, 
which we might, if we had room, speak of at large, and 
divert you, too, with the relation ; such as my lady Hatt's 
devil in Essex, who, upon laying a joiner's mallet in the 
window of a certain chamber, would come very orderly 
and knock with it all night upon the window, or against 
the wainscoat, and disturb the neighbourhood, and then 
go away in the morning, as well satisfied as may be ; 
whereas, if the mallet was not left, he would think him- 
self affronted, and be as unsufferable and terrifying as 
possible, breaking the windows, splitting the wainscoat, 
committing all the disorders, and doing all the damage 
that he was able to the house, and to the goods in it. 
And, again, such as the drumming devil in the well at 
Oundle in Northamptonshire, and such-like. 

A great many antic devils have been seen also who 
seemed to have little or nothing to do, but only to as- 
sure us that they can appear if they please, and that 
there is a reality in the thing called apparition. 

As to shadows of devils, and imaginary appearances, 
such as appear and yet are invisible at the same time, 
I had thought to have bestowed a chapter upon them 
by themselves, but it may be as much to the purpose 



2S6 THE MODERN 

to let them alone as to meddle with them ; it is said 
our old friend Luther used to be exceedingly troubled 
with such invisible apparitions, and he tells us much of 
them in what they call his Table-talk ; but, with 
master Luther's leave, though the Devil passes for a 
very great liar, I could swallow many things of his own 
proper making, as soon as some of those I find in a book 
that goes by his name ; particularly the story of the 
Devil in a basket, the child flying out of the cradle, and 
the like. 

In a word, the walking devils that we have generally 
among us are of the female sex ; whether it be that the 
Devil finds less difficulty to manage them, or that he 
lives quieter with them, or that they are fitter for his 
business than the men, I shall not now enter into a 
dispute about that ; perhaps he goes better disguised 
in the fair sex than otherwise. Antiquity gives us many 
histories of she-devils, such as we can very seldom 
match for wickedness among the men ; such, now, as 
in the text, Lot's daughters, Joseph's mistress, Sam- 
son's Delilah, Herod's Herodias, these were certainly 
devils, or played the devil sufficiently in their turn ; 
one male apparition, indeed, the Scripture furnishes 
you with, and that is Judas ; for his master says ex- 
pressly of him, One of you is a devil, not 'has' the Devil, 
or is ' possessed' of the Devil ; but really 'is' a devil, or 
is a real devil. 

How happy is it, that this great secret comes thus to 
be discovered to mankind ! certainly the world has 
gone on in ignorance a long time, and at a strange rate, 
that we should have so many devils continually walk- 
ing about amoug us in human shape, and we know it 
not. 

Philosophers tell us that there is a world of spirits, 
and many learned pieces of guess-work they make at it, 
representing the world to be so near us, that the air, 
as they describe it, must be full of dragons and devils, 
enough to frighten our imaginations with the very 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 287 

thoughts of them ; and, if they say true, it is our 
great felicity that we cannot see any further into it 
than we do, which, if we could, would appear as frightful 
as hell itself; but none of those sages ever told us, till 
now, that half the people we converse with are appari- 
tions, especially of the women ; and, among them, espe- 
cially this valuable part, the women of figure, the fair, 
the beautiful, or the patched and painted. 

This unusual phenomenon has been seen but a little 
while, and but a little way, and the general part of 
mankind cannot come into the same notions about it ; 
nay, perhaps they will all think it strange ; but be it 
as strange as it will, the nature of the thing confirms 
it, this lower sphere is full of devils ; and some of both 
sexes have given strange testimonies of the reality of 
their pre-existent devilism for many ages past, though 
I think it never came to that height as it has now. 

It is true, in former times Satan dealt much in old 
women, and those, as I have observed already, very 
ugly ; 'ugly as a witch,' ' black as a witch,' < I look like 
a witch,' all proverbial speeches, and which testified 
what tools it was Satan generally worked with ; and 
these old spectres, they tell us, used to ride through 
the air in the night, and upon broomsticks, too; all 
mighty homely doings. Some say they used to go to 
visit their grand seignior, the Devil, in those nocturnal 
perambulations ; but be that as it will, it is certain the 
Devil has changed hands, and that now he walks about 
the world clothed in beauty, covered with the charms 
of the lovely ; and he fails not to disguise himself 
effectually by it, for who would think a beautiful lady 
could be a mask to the devil ? and that a fine face, a 
divine shape, a heavenly aspect, should bring the Devil 
in her company, nay, should be herself an apparition, 
a mere devil ? 

The inquiry is, indeed, worth our while, and there- 
fore I hope all the enamoured beaus and boys, all the 
beauty-hunters and fortune-hunters, will take heed, for 



288 THE MODERN 

I suppose, if they get the Devil, they will not complain 
for want of a fortune ; and there is danger enough, I 
assure you, for the world is full of apparitions, non rosa 
sine spinis, not a beauty without a devil; the old women 
spectres, and the young women apparitions, the ugly 
ones witches, and the handsome ones devils; Lord 
ha' mercy ! and a + may be set on the man's door 
that goes a-courting. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 289 



CHAP. VIII. 



Of the cloven foot walking about the world without the 
Devil ; viz., of witches making bargains for the Devil, 
and particularly of selling the soul to the Devil. 

I have dwelt long upon the Devil in mask, as he goes 
about the world incog., and especially without his 
cloven foot, and have touched upon some of his dis- 
guises in the management of his interest in the world ; 
I must say some of his disguises only, for who can give a 
full account of all his tricks and arts in so narrow a 
compass as I am prescribed to ? 

But as I said that every devil has not a cloven foot, 
so I must add now, for the present purpose, that every 
cloven foot is not the Devil. 

Not but that, wherever I should meet the cloven 
hoof, I should expect that the Devil was not far off, 
and should be apt to raise the posse against him, to ap- 
prehend him ; yet it may happen otherwise, that's cer- 
tain : every coin has its counterfeit, every art its pre- 
tender, every whore her admirer, every error its patron, 
and every day has its devil. 

I have had some thought of making a full and complete 
discovery here of that great doubt which has so long 
puzzled the world, namely, whether there is any such 
thing as secret making bargains with the Devil ; and 
the first positive assurance I can give you in the case, 
is, that if there is not, it is not his fault, it is not for 
want of his endeavour ; it is plain, if you will pardon 
me for taking so mean a step as that of quoting Scrip- 
ture, I say, it is evident he would fain have made a 
contract with our Saviour; and he bid boldly, give him 
his due, namely, all the kingdoms of the world for one 
bend of his knee. Impudent seraph ! to think thy 

h. d. u 



290 THE MODERN 

Lord should pay thee homage ! How many would agree 
with him here for a less price ! They say Oliver 
Cromwell struck a bargain with him, and that he gave 
Oliver the protectorship, but would not let him call 
himself king, which stuck so close to that furioso, that 
the mortification spread into his soul, and it is said he 
died of a gangrene in the spleen. But take notice, and 
do Oliver justice ; I do not vouch the story, neither 
does the bishop say one word of it. 

Fame used to say, that the old famous duke of Lux- 
emburg made a magic compact of this kind; nay, I 
have heard many an (old woman) officer of the troops, 
who never cared to see his face, declare that he carried 
the Devil at his back. I remember a certain author 
of a newspaper in London was once taken up, and 
they say it cost him 50/. for printing in his news, that 
Luxemburg was humpbacked. Now if I have solved 
the difficulty, namely, that he was not humped, only 
carried the Devil at his back, I think the poor man 
should have his 50/. again, or I should have it for the 
discovery. 

I confess, I do not well understand this compacting 
with such a fellow as can neither write nor read ; nor 
do I know who is the scrivener between them, or how 
the indenture can be executed; but that which is worse 
than all the rest is, that in the first place, the Devil 
never keeps articles ; he will contract perhaps, and 
they say he is mighty forward to make conditions ; but 
who shall bind him to the performance, and where is 
the penalty if he fails ? if we agree with him, he will 
be apt enough to claim his bargain and demand pay- 
ment ; nay, perhaps before it is due ; but who shall 
make him stand to his word ? 

Besides, he is a knave in his dealing, for he really 
promises what he cannot perform ; witness his impu- 
dent proposal to our Lord, mentioned above, All these 
kingdoms ivill I give thee ! Lying spirit ! why they were 
none of thine to give, no, not one of them ; for the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 291 

earth is the Lord's, and the kingdoms thereof, nor were 
they in his power any more than in his right. So I 
have heard that some poor dismal creatures have sold 
themselves to the Devil for a sum of money, for so much 
cash ; and yet even in that case, when the day of pay- 
ment came, I never heard that he brought his money 
or paid the purchase, so that he is a scoundrel in 
his treaties, for you shall trust for your bargain, but 
not be able to get your money; and yet for your 
part, he comes for you to an hour : of which by itself. 
In a word, let me caution you all, when you trade 
with the Devil, either get the price or quit the bargain ; 
the Devil is a cunning shaver, he will wriggle himself 
out of the performance on his side if possible, and yet 
expect you should be punctual on your side. They tell 
you of a poor fellow in Herefordshire, that offered to 
sell his soul to him for a cow, and though the Devil 
promised, and as they say, signed the writings, yet the 
poor countryman could never get the cow of him, but 
still as he brought a cow to him, somebody or other 
came and challenged it, proving that it was lost or 
stolen from them ; so that the man got nothing but the 
name of a cow-stealer, and was at last carried to Here- 
ford jail, and condemned to be hanged for stealing two 
cows, one after the other : the wicked fellow was then 
in the greatest distress imaginable, he summoned his 
devil to help him out, but he failed him, as the Devil 
always will; he really had not stolen the cows, but 
they were found in his possession, and he could give 
no account how he came by them. At last, he was 
driven to confess the truth, told the horrid bargain 
he had made, and how the Devil often promised him a 
cow, but never gave him one, except that several times 
in the morning early he found a cow put into his 
yard, but it always proved to belong to some of his 
neighbours : whether the man was hanged or no, the 
story does not relate ; but this part is to my purpose, 
hat they that make bargains with the Devil, ought to 

u2 



292 THE MODERN 

make him give security for the performance of cove- 
nants, and who the devil would get to be bound for 
him, I cannot tell, they must look to that who make the 
bargain : besides, if he had not had a mind to cheat or 
baffle the poor man, what need he have taken a cow so 
near home ? If he had such and such powers as we talk 
of, and as fancy and fable furnish for him, could not he 
have carried a cow in the air upon a broomstick, as 
well as an old woman ? could he not have stole a cow 
for him in Lincolnshire, and set it down in Hereford- 
shire, and so have performed his bargain, saved his 
credit, and kept the poor man out of trouble ? so that 
if the story is true, as I really believe it is, either it is 
not the Devil that makes those bargains, or the Devil 
has not such power as we bestow on him, except on 
special occasions he gets a permit, and is bid go, as 
in the case of Job, the Gadarene hogs, and the like. 

We have another example of a man's selling himself 
to the Devil, that is very remarkable, and that is in the 
Bible too ; and even in that, I do not find what the 
Devil did for him, in payment of the purchase price. 
The person selling was Ahab, of whom the text says 
expressly, there ivas none like him, who did sell himself 
to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, 1 Kings xxL 
20, and the 2oth. I think it might have been rendered, if 
not translated, 'in spite of the Lord/ or, 'in defiance of 
God ;' for certainly that is the meaning of it ; and now 
allowing me to preach a little upon this text, my sermon 
shall be very short. Ahab sold himself; who did he sell 
himself to ? I answer that question by a question ; who 
would buy him ? who, as we say, would give anything 
for him ? and the answer to that is plain also, you may 
judge of the purchaser by the work he was to do ; he 
that buys a slave in the market, buys him to work for 
him, and to do such business as he has for him to do : 
Ahab was bought to work wickedness, and who would 
buy him for that but the Devil ? 

I think there is no room to doubt but Ahab sold him- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 293 

self to the Devil ; the text is plain that he sold himself, 
and the work he was sold to do points out the master 
that bought him : what price he agreed with the 
Devil for, that indeed the text is silent in, so we may 
let it alone, nor is it much to our purpose, unless it be to 
inquire whether the Devil stood to his bargain or not, 
and whether he paid the money according to agreement, 
or cheated him as he did the farmer at Hereford. 

This buying and selling between the Devil and us, 
is, I must confess, an odd kind of stock -jobbing, and, 
indeed, the Devil may be said to sell the bear-skin, 
whatever he buys ; but the strangest part is when he 
comes to demand the transfer ; for, as I hinted before, 
whether he performs or no, he expects his bargain to a 
tittle ; there is, indeed, some difficulty in resolving how 
and in what manner payment is made. The stories we 
meet with in our chimney-corner histories, and which 
are so many ways made use of to make the Devil 
frightful to us aud our heirs for ever, are generally so 
foolish and ridiculous, as, if true or not true, they have 
nothing material in them, are of no signification, or 
else so impossible in their nature, that they make no 
impression upon anybody above twelve years old and 
under seventy ; or else are so tragical that antiquity 
has fabled them down to our taste, that we might be 
able to hear them and repeat them with less horror 
than is due to them. 

This variety has taken off our relish of the thing in 
general, and made the trade of soul-selling, like our 
late more eminent bubbles, be taken to be a cheat, and 
to have little in it. 

However, to speak a little more gravely to it, I 
cannot say but that since, by the two eminent instances 
of it above in Ahab, and in Christ himself, the fact is 
evidently ascertained, and that the Devil has attempted 
to make such a bargain on one, and actually did make 
it with the other, the possibility of it is not to be dis- 
puted ; but then I must explain the manner of it a little, 



294 THE MODERN 

and bring it down nearer to our understanding, that it 
may be more intelligible than it is ; for as for this 
selling the soul, and making a bargain to give the 
Devil possession by livery and seisin on the day ap- 
pointed, that I cannot come into by any means ; no, 
nor into the other part, namely, of the Devil coming to 
claim his bargain, and to demand the soul according to 
agreement, and upon default of a fair delivery, taking 
it away by violence, case and all, of which we have many 
historical relations pretty current among us ; some of 
which, for aught I know, we might have hoped had 
been true, if we had not been sure they were false, and 
others we had reason to fear were false, because it was 
impossible they should be true. 

The bargains of this kind, according to the best ac- 
counts we have of them, used to consist of two main 
articles, according to the ordinary stipulations in all 
covenants ; namely, 

1 . Something to be performed on the Devil's part, 
buying. _ 

2. Something to be performed on the man's part, 
selling. 

1. The Devil's part: this was generally some poor 
trifle, for the Devil generally bought good penny- 
worths, and oftentimes, like a complete sharper, agreed 
to give what he was not able to procure ; that is to say, 
would bargain for a price he could not pay, as in the 
case of the Hereford man and the cow ; for example, 
1. Long life: this, though the deluded chapman has 
often had folly enough to contract for, the Devil never 
had power to make good ; and we have a famous story, 
how true I know not, of a wretch that sold himself to 
the Devil on condition he, Satan, should assure him 
(1.) That he should never want victuals ; (2.) That 
he should never be a-cold ; (3.) That he should always 
come to him when he called him ; and (4.) That he 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 295 

should let him live one-and-twenty years, and then 
Satan was at liberty to have him ; that is, I suppose, to 
take him wherever he could find him. 

It seems, the fellow's desire to be assured of twenty- 
one years' life, was chiefly, that duriug that time, he 
might be as wicked as he would, and should yet be 
sure not to be hanged, nay, to be free from all punish- 
ment ; upon this foot it is said he commenced rogue, 
and committed a great many robberies and other vil- 
lanous things. Now it seems the Devil was pretty true 
to his bargain in several of those things ; particularly, 
that two or three times when the fellow was taken up 
for petty crimes, and called for his old friend, he came 
and frightened the constables so, that they let the 
offender get away from them ; but at length, having 
done some capital crime, a set of constables, or such- 
like officers, seized upon him, who were not to be 
frightened with the Devil, in what shape soever he ap- 
peared ; so that they carried him off, and he was com- 
mitted to Newgate, or some other prison as effectual. 

Nor could Satan, with all his skill, unlock his fetters, 
much less the prison doors ; but he was tried, con- 
victed, - and executed. The fellow in his extremity, 
they say, expostulated with the Devil for his bargain, 
the term of twenty-one years it seems not being ex- 
pired. But the Devil, it is said, shuffled with him, 
told him a good while he would get him out, bid him 
have patience and stay a little, and thus led him on, 
till he came as it were within sight of the gallows, that 
is to say, within a day or two of his execution, when 
the Devil cavilled upon his bargain, told him he 
agreed to let him live twenty-one years, and he had 
not hindered him, but that he did not covenant to cause 
him to live that time ; that there was a great deal of 
difference between doing and suffering ; that he was to 
suffer him to live, and that he did ; but he could not 
make him live when he had brought himself to the 
gallows. 



296 THE MODERN 

Whether this story were true or not, (for you must 
not expect we historians should answer for the discourse 
between the Devil and his chaps, because we were not 
privy to the bargain ;) I say, whether it was true or 
not, the inference is to our purpose several ways. 

1. It confirms what I have said of the knavery of 
the Devil in his dealings, and that when he has 
stock -jobbed with us on the best conditions he 
can get, he very seldom performs his bargain. 

2. It confirms what I have likewise said, that the 
Devil's power is limited ; with this addition, that 
he not only cannot destroy the life of man, but 
that he cannot preserve it ; in short, he can 
neither prevent or bring on our destruction. 

I may be allowed, I hope, for the sake of the present 
discourse, to suppose that the Devil would have been 
so just to this wicked, though foolish creature, as to 
have saved him from the gallows if he could ; but it 
seems, he at last acknowledged that it was not in his 
power ; nay, he could not keep him from being taken 
and carried to prison, after he was gotten into the 
hands of a bold fellow or two, that were not to be 
scared with his bluster, as some foolish creatures had 
been before. 

And how simple, how weak, how unlike anything of 
an angelic nature, was it to attempt to save the poor 
wretch only by little noises and sham appearances, 
putting out the candles, rushing and jostling in the 
dark, and the like. If the Devil was that mighty 
seraph which we have heard of, if he is a god of this 
world, a prince of the air, a spirit able to destroy cities 
and make havoc in the world ; if he can raise tempests 
and storms, throw fire about the world, and do won- 
derful things, as an unchained devil no doubt could 
do ; what need all this frippery ? and what need he try 
so many ridiculous ways, by the emptiness, nay, the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 297 

silly nonsensical manner, of which, he shows that he 
is able to do no better, and that his power is ex- 
tinguished ? In a word, he would certainly act other- 
wise, if he could. Sed caret pedibus, he wants power. 

How weak a thing is it then, for any man to expect 
performance from the Devil, if he has not power to do 
mischief, which is his element, his very nature, and on 
many accounts, is the very sum of his desires ! How 
should he have power to do good ? how power to deliver 
from danger or from death ? which deliverance would 
be in itself a good, and we know it is not in his nature 
to do good to or for any man. 

In a word, the Devil is strangely impudent, to think 
that any man should depend upon him for the per- 
formance of an agreement of any kind whatever, when 
he knows himself that he is not able, if he was honest 
enough, to be as good as his word. 

Come we next to his expecting our performance to 
him; though he is not so just to us, yet, it seems, he 
never fails to come and demand payment of us at the 
very day appointed. He was but a weak trader in 
things of this nature, who having sold his soul to the 
Devil, (so our old women's tales call the thing,) and 
when the Devil came to demand his bargain, put it off 
as a thing of no force, for that it was done so long ago, 
he thought he (the Devil) had forgot it. It was a 
better answer, which they tell us a Lutheran divine 
gave the Devil in the name of a poor wretch who had 
sold himself to the Devil, and who was in a terrible 
fright about his coming for his bargain, as he might 
well be indeed, if the Devil has such a power as really 
to come and take it by force. The story, if you can 
bear a serious one, is this : 

The man was in great horror of mind, and the family 
feared he would destroy himself; at length they sent 
for a Lutheran minister to talk • with him, and who, 
after some labour with him, got out the truth, viz., 
that he had sold himself to the Devil, and that the 



298 THE MODERN 

time was almost expired when he expected the Devil 
would come and fetch him away, and he was sure he 
would not fail coming to the time to a minute. The 
minister first endeavoured to convince him of the 
horrid crime, and to bring him to a true penitence for 
that part ; and having, as he thought, made him a sin- 
cere penitent, he then began to encourage him, and 
particularly, desired of him, that when the time was 
come that the Devil should fetch him away, he, the 
minister, should be in the house with him ; accordingly, 
to make the story short, the time came, the Devil 
came, and the minister was present when the Devil 
came ; what shape he was in, the story does not say ; 
the man said he saw him, and cried out ; the minister 
could not see him, but the man affirming he was in the 
room, the minister said aloud, In the name of the 
living God, Satan, what comest thou here for? The 
Devil answered, I come for my own ; the minister 
answered, He is not thy own, for Jesus Christ has 
redeemed him, and in his name I charge thee to avoid 
and touch him not ; at which, says the story, the Devil 
gave a furious stamp (with his cloven foot I suppose) 
and went away, and was never known to molest him 
afterwards. 

Another story, though it be in itself a long one,. 
I shall abridge (for your reading with the less uneasi- 
ness) as follows : 

A young gentleman of berg, in the elector of 

Brandenburgh's (now the king of Prussia's) dominions, 
being deeply in love with a beautiful lady, but some- 
thing above his fortune, and whom he could by no 
means bring to love him again, applied himself to an 
old thing, called a witch, for her assistance, and pro- 
mised her great things if she could bring the lady to 
love him, or any how compass her so as he might 
have his will of her ; nay, at last he told her he would 
give up his soul to her, if she would answer his desire. 

The old hag, it seems, having had some of his money. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 299 

had very honestly tried what she could do, but all to 
no purpose, the lady would not comply ; but when he 
offered such a great price, she told him she would con- 
sider further against such a time, and so appointed him 
the next evening. 

At the time appointed, he comes, and the witch made 
a long speech to him upon the nicety of the affair ; I 
suppose to prepare him not to be surprised at what was 
to come, for she supposed he was not so very desperately 
bent as he appeared to be ; she told him it was a thing 
of very great difficulty, but as he had made such a 
great offer, of selling his soul for it, she had an ac- 
quaintance in the house, who was better skilled than 
she was in such particular things, and would treat with 
him further, and she doubted not but that both together 
might answer his end. The fellow, it seems, was still of 
the same mind, and told her he cared not what he 
pawned or sold, if he could but obtain the lady ; Well, 
says the old hag, sit still awhile ; and with that she 
withdraws. 

By and by she comes in again with a question in her 
mouth ; Pray, says she, do you seek this lady for a 
wife, or for a mistress ? would you marry her, or would 
you only lie with her ? The young man told her, no, 
no, he did not expect she would lie with him, therefore 
he would be satisfied to marry her, but asks her the 
reason of the question ; Why truly, says the old hag, 
my reason is very weighty ; for if you would have her 
for your wife, I doubt we can do you no service ; but 
if you have a mind to lie with her, the person I speak 
of will undertake it. 

The man was surprised at that, only he objected that 
this was a transient or short felicity, and that he should 
perhaps have her no more ; the old hag bid him not 
fear, but that if she once yielded to be his whore, he 
might have her as often as he pleased ; upon this he 
consents, for he was stark mad for the lady ; he having 
consented, she told him then, he should follow her, but 



^U^LA^L <^^ ^Z^JU^ 



300 THE MODERN 

told him, whoever he saw, he must speak to nobody 
but her, till she gave him leave, and that he should not 
be surprised, whatever happened, for no hurt should 
befall him ; all which he agreed to, and the old woman 
going out he followed her. 

Being, upon this, led into another room, where there 
was but very little light, yet enough to let him see that 
there was nobody in it but himself and the woman, he 
was desired to sit down in a chair next to a table, and 
the old woman clapping the door to after her, he asked 
her why she shut the door, and where was the person 
she told him of. At which she answered, There he is, 
pointing to a chair at a little distance: the young 
gentleman turning his head, saw a grave kind of a 
man sitting in an elbow-chair, though he said, he 
could have sworn there was nobody in the chair when 
the old woman shut the door; however, having pro- 
mised not to speak to anybody but the old woman, he 
said not a word. 

By and by the woman making abundance of strange 
gestures and motions, and mumbling over several 
things which he could not understand, on a sudden a 
large wicker chair, which stood by the chimney, re- 
moves to the other end of the table which he sat by, 
but there was nobody in the chair ; in about two 
minutes after that the chair removed, there appeared a 
person sitting in that too, who, the room being, as is 
said, almost dark, could not be so distinguished by the 
eye as to see his countenance. 

After some while, the first man, and the chair he 
sat in, moved, as if they had been one body, to the 
table also; and the old woman and the two men 
seemed to talk together, but the young man could not 
understand anything they said ; after some time the 
old witch turned to the young gentleman, told him his 
request was granted, but not for marriage, but the lady 
should love and receive him. 

The witch then gave him a stick dipped in tar at both 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 301 

ends, and bid him hold it to a candle, which he did, 
and instead of burning like a stick, it burnt out like a 
torch ; then she bid him break it off in the middle, and 
light the other end ; he did that too, and all the room 
seemed to be in a light flame ; then she said, Deliver 
one piece here, pointing to one only of the persons; so 
he gave the first fire-stick to the first man or appari- 
tion ; Now, says she, deliver the other here ; so he gave 
the other piece to the other apparition, at which they 
both rose up and spoke to him words, which he said 
he understood not, and could not repeat, and immedi- 
ately vanished with the fire-sticks and all, leaving the 
room full of smoke. I do not remember that the story 
says anything of brimstone, or the smell of it, but it 
says the door continued fast locked, and nobody was 
left in the room but the young gentleman and the witch. 

Now the ceremony being over, he asked the witch 
if the business was done. She said, Yes. Well, but 
says he, have I sold my soul to the Devil ? Yes, says 
she, you have, and you gave him possession when you 
delivered the two fire-sticks to him. To him ! says 
he ; why, was that the Devil ? Yes, says the old hag. 
At which the young man was in a terrible fright for a 
while, but it went off again. 

And what's next? says he; when shall I see the lady 
for whose sake I have done all this ? You shall know 
that presently, said she ; and opening the door, in the 
next room she presents him with a most beautiful 
lady, but had charged him not to speak a word to her : 
she was exactly dressed like, and he presently knew 
her to be the lady he desired ; upon which he flew to 
her, and clasped her in his arms, but that moment he 
had her fast, as he thought, in his arms, she vanished 
out of his sight. 

Finding himself thus disappointed, he upbraids the 
old woman with betraying him, and flew out with ill 
language at her, in a great rage. The Devil often de- 
luded him thus, after this, with shows and appearances, 



302 THE MODERN 

but still no performance ; after a while he gets an op- 
portunity to speak with the lady herself in reality, but 
she was as positive in her denial as ever, and even 
took away all hopes of his ever obtaining her, which 
put him into despair, for now he thought he had given 
himself up to the Devil for nothing; and this brought 
him to himself, so that he made a penitent confession 
of his crime to some friends, who took great care of 
him, and encouraged him, and at last furnished him 
with such an answer as put the Devil into a fright, 
when he came for the bargain. 

For Satan, it. seems, as the story says, had the im- 
pudence to demand his agreement, notwithstanding he 
had failed in the performance on his part ; what the 
answer was, I do not pretend to have seen, but it seems 
it was something like what is mentioned above, viz., 
that he was in better hands, and that he durst not 
touch him. 

I have heard of another person that had actually 
signed a contract with the Devil ; and upon a fast kept 
by some protestant or Christian divines, while they 
were praying for the poor man, the Devil was obliged 
to come and throw the contract in at the window. 

But I vouch none of these stories; there may be 
much in them, and much use made of them, even 
whether exactly such in fact, as they are related, or 
no : the best use I can make of them, is this ; if any 
wicked desperate wretches have made bargain and sale 
with Satan, their only way is to repent, if they know 
how, and that before he comes to claim them ; then 
batter him with his own guns ; play religion against 
devilism, and perhaps they may drive the Devil out of 
their reach ; at least he will not come at them, which 
is as well. 

On the other hand, how many stories have we 
handed about of the Devil's really coming with a ter- 
rible appearance at the time appointed, "and powerfully, 
or by violence, carrying away those that have given 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 303 

themselves thus up to him ; nay, and sometimes a 
piece of the house along with them, as in the famous 
instance of Sudbury, anno 1662. It seems he comes 
with rage and fury upon such occasions, pretending he 
only comes to take his own, or as if he had leave given 
him to come and take his goods, as we say, where he 
could find them, and would strike a terror into all that 
should oppose him. 

The greatest part of the terror we are usually in 
upon this occasion, is from a supposition, that when 
this hell-fire contract is once made, God allows the 
Devil to come and take the wicked creature, how and 
in what manner he thinks fit, as being given up to him 
by his own act and deed ; but in my opinion there's no 
divinity at all in that ; for as, in our law, we punish a 
felo de se or self-murderer, because, as the law suggests, 
he had no right to dismiss his own life ; that he being 
a subject of the commonwealth, the government claims 
the ward or custody of him, and so it was not murder 
only, but robbery, and is a felony against the state, 
robbing the king of his liegeman, as it is justly called; 
so neither has any man a right to dispose of his soul, 
which belongs to his Maker in property, and in right 
of creation : the man, then, having no right to sell, 
Satan has no right to buy, or at best he has made a 
purchase without a title, and consequently has no just 
claim to the possession. 

It is therefore a mistake to say, that when any of us 
have been so mad to make such a pretended contract 
with the Devil, that God gives him leave to take it as 
his due ; it is no such thing ; the Devil has bought 
what you had no right to sell, and therefore, as an un- 
lawful oath is to be repented of, and then broken, so 
your business is to repent of the crime, and then tell 
the Devil you have better considered of it, and that 
you won't stand to your bargain, for you had no power 
to sell ; and if he pretends to violence after that, I am 
mistaken ; I believe the Devil knows better. 



304 THE MODERN 

It is true, our old mothers and nurses have told us 
other things, but they^only told us what their mothers 
and nurses told them, and so the tale has been handed 
down from one generation of old women to another ; 
but we have no vouchers for the fact, other than oral 
tradition, the credit of which, I confess, goes but a very 
little way with me ; nor do I believe it one jot the 
more for all the frightful addenda which they generally 
join to the tale, for it never wants a great variety of 
that kind. 

Thus they tell us the Devil carried away Dr. 
Faustus, and took a piece of the wall of his garden 
along with them : thus at Salisbury, the Devil, as it is 
said, and publicly printed, carried away two fellows 
that had given themselves up to him, and carried away 
the roof of the house with them, and the like, all which 
I believe my share of. Besides, if these stories were 
really true, they are all against the Devil's true 
interest, Satan must be a fool, which is indeed what I 
never took him to be in the main ; this would be the 
way not to increase the number of desperadoes, who 
should thus put themselves into his hand, but to make 
himself a terror to them ; and this is one of the most 
powerful objections I have against the thing, for the 
Devil, I say, is no fool, that must be acknowledged ; 
he knows his own game, and generally plays it sure. 

I might, before I quit this point, seriously reflect 
here upon our beau monde^ viz., the gay part of man- 
kind, especially those of the times we live in, who walk 
about in a composure and tranquillity inexpressible, 
and yet, as we all know, must certainly have all sold 
themselves to the Devil, for the power of acting the 
foolishest things with the greater applause ; it is true, 
to be a fool is the most pleasant life in the world, if 
the fool has but the particular felicity, which few fools 
want, viz., to think themselves wise : the learned say, 
it is the dignity and perfection of fools, that they never 
fail trusting themselves ; they believe themselves suffi- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 305 

cient and able for everything ; and hence their want 
or waste of brains is no grievance to them, but they 
hug themselves in the satiety of their own wit ; but to 
bring other people to have the same notion of them, 
which they have of themselves, and to have their apish 
and ridiculous conduct make the same impression on 
the minds of others, as it does on their own ; this re- 
quires a general infatuation, and must either be a 
judgment from heaven, or a mist of hell ; nothing but 
the Devil can make all the men of brains applaud a 
fool ; and can any man believe that the Devil will do 
this for nothing? no, no, he will be well paid for it, 
and I know no other way they have to compound with 
him, but this of bargain and sale. 

It is the same thing with rakes and bullies, as it is 
with fools and beaus ; and this brings me to the subject 
of buying and selling itself, and to examine what is 
understood by it in the world, what people mean by 
such and such a man selling himself to the Devil : I 
know the common acceptation of it is, that they make 
some capitulation for some indulgence in wickedness, 
on conditions of safety and impunity, which the Devil 
promises them ; though, as I said above, he is a bite 
in that too, for he cannot perform the conditions ; 
however, I say, he promises boldly, and they believe 
him, and for this privilege in wickedness, they consent 
that he shall come and fetch them for his own, at such 
or such a time. 

This is the state of the case in the general accepta- 
tion of it ; I do not say it is really so, nay, it is even 
an inconsistency in itself, for one would think they 
need not capitulate with the Devil to be so and so 
superlatively wicked, and give him such a price for it, 
seeing, unless we have a wrong notion of him, he is 
naturally inclined, as well as avowedly willing, to have 
all men be as superlatively wicked as possibly they 
can, and must necessarily be always ready to issue out 
his licenses gratis, as far as his authority will go in the 

H. d. x 



306 THE MODERN 

case ; and therefore I do not see why the wretches that 
deal with him, should article with him for a price ; but 
suppose, for argument sake, that it is so, then the next 
thing is, some capital crime follows the contract, and 
then the wretch is forsaken, for the Devil cannot pro- 
tect him, as he promised, so he is trussed up, and, like 
Coleman at the gallows, he exclaims that there is no 
truth in devils. 

It may be true, however, that under the powerful 
guard and protection of the Devil, men do sometimes 
go a great way in crime, and that, perhaps, farther in 
these our days of boasted morals, than was known 
among our fathers ; the only difference that I meet 
with between the sons of Belial in former days and 
those of our ages, seems to be in the Devil's manage- 
ment, not in theirs ; the sum of which amounts to this, 
that Satan seems to act with more cunning, and they 
with less ; for, in the former ages of Satan's dominion, 
he had much business upon his hands ; all his art and 
engines, and engineers also, were kept fully employed, 
to wheedle, allure, betray, and circumvent people, and 
draw them into crimes, and they found him, as we 
may say, a full employment. I doubt not, he was 
called the Tempter on that very account ; but the case 
seems quite altered now, the tables are turned ; then 
the Devil tempted men to sin, but now, in short, they 
tempt the Devil ; men push into crimes before he 
pushes them ; they outshoot him in his own bow, 
outrun him on his own ground, and, as we say of some 
hotspurs who ride post, they whip the postboy ; in a 
word, the Devil seems to have no business now but to 
sit still and look on. 

This, I must confess, seems to intimate some secret 
compact between the Devil and them ; but then it 
looks, not as if they had contracted with the Devil for 
leave to sin, but that the Devil had contracted with 
them that they should sin so and so, up to such a 
degree, and that without giving him the trouble of 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 307 

daily solicitation, private management, and artful 
screwing up their passions, their affections, and their 
most retired faculties, as he was before obliged to do. 

This also appears more agreeable to the nature of 
the thing ; and as it is a most exquisite part of Satan's 
cunning, so it is an undoubted testimony of his suc- 
cess ; if it was not so, he could never bring his king- 
dom to such a height of absolute power as he has done : 
this also solves several difficulties in the affair of the 
world's present way of sinning, which otherwise it 
would be very hard to understand ; as particularly how 
some eminent men of quality among us, whose upper 
rooms are not extraordinary well furnished in other 
cases, yet are so very witty in their wickedness, that 
they gather admirers by hundreds and thousands ; 
who, however heavy, lumpish, slow, and backward, 
even by nature and in force of constitution, in better 
things, yet, in their race devilwards, they are of a 
sudden grown nimble, light of foot, and outrun all their 
neighbours ; fellows that are as empty of sense as 
beggars are of honesty, and as far from brains as a 
whore is of modesty ; on a sudden you shall find them 
dip into polemics, study Michael Servetus, Socinus, 
and the most learned of their disciples ; they shall 
reason against all religion, as strongly as a philosopher, 
blaspheme with such a keenness of wit, and satirize 
God and eternity with such a brightness of fancy, as 
if the soul of a Rochester or a Hobbes was transmigrated 
into them ; in a little length of time more they banter 
heaven, burlesque the Trinity, and jest with every 
sacred thing, and all so sharp, so ready, and so terribly 
witty, as if they were born buffoons, and were singled 
out by nature to be champions for the Devil. 

Whence can all this come? how is the change 
wrought? who but the Devil can inject wit in spite of 
natural dulness, create brains, fill empty heads, and 
supply the vacuities in the understanding ? And will 
Satan do all this for nothing ? No, no, he is too wise 

x2 



308 THE MODERN 

for that ; I can never doubt a secret compact, if there 
is such a thing in nature ; when I see a head where 
there was no head, sense in posse where there is no 
sense in esse, wit without brains, and sight without 

eyes, it is all devil-work : could G write satires, 

that could neither read Latin or spell English; like old 
sir William Read, who wrote a book of optics, which 
when it was printed, he did not know which was the 
right side uppermost, and which the wrong ? Could 
this eminent uninformed beau turn atheist, and make 
wise speeches against that Being which made him a 
fool, if the Devil had not sold him some wit in ex- 
change for that trifle of his, called soul ? Had he not 
bartered his inside with that son of the morning, to 
have his tongue tipped with blasphemy, he that knew 
nothing of a God, but only to swear by him, could never 
have set up for a wit to burlesque his providence and 
ridicule his government of the world. 

But the Devil, as he is god of the world, has one 
particular advantage, and that is, that when he has 
work to do he very seldom wants instruments ; with 
this circumstance also, that the degeneracy of human 
nature supplies him. As the late king of France said 
of himself, when they told him what a calamity was 
like to befall his kingdom by the famine : Well, says 
the king, then I shall not want soldiers ; and it was so ; 
want of bread supplied his army with recruits, so want 
of grace supplies the Devil with reprobates for his work. 

Another reason why I think the Devil has made 
more bargains of that kind we speak of, in this age, is, 
because he seems to have laid by his cloven foot ; all 
his old emissaries, the tools of his trade, the engineers 
which he employed in his mines, such as witches, 
warlocks, magicians, conjurers, astrologers, and all the 
hellish train or rabble of human devils, who did his 
drudgery in former days, seem to be out of work: I 
shall give you a fuller enumeration of them in the next 
chapter. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 309 

These, I say, seem to be laid aside; not that his 
work is abated, or that his business with mankind, for 
their delusion and destruction, is not the same, or per- 
haps more than ever; but the Devil seems to have 
changed hands ; the temper and genius of mankind is 
altered, and they are not to be taken by fright and 
horror, as they were then : the figures of those crea- 
tures were always dismal and horrible, and that is it 
which I mean by the cloven foot ; but now wit, beauty, 
and gay things, are the sum of his craft ; he manages 
by the soft and the smooth, the fair and the artful, the 
kind and the cunning, not by the frightful and terrible, 
the ugly and the odious. 

When the Devil, for weighty despatches, 
Wanted messengers cunning and bold, 

He pass'd by the beautiful faces, 
And pick'd out the ugly and old. 

Of these he made warlocks and witches, 

To run of his errands by night ; 
Till the over-wrought hag-ridden wretches, 

Were as fit as the Devil to fright. 

But whoever has been his adviser, 
As his kingdom increases in growth ; 

He now takes his measures much wiser, 
And traffics with beauty and youth. 

Disguised in the wanton and witty, 

He haunts both the church and the court ; 

And sometimes he visits the city, 
Where all the best Christians resort. 

Thus dress'd up in full masquerade, 

He the bolder can range up and down ; 

For he better can drive on his trade, 
In any one's name than his own. 



310 THE MODERN 



CHAP. IX. 



Of the tools the Devil ivorksivith; viz., witches, wizards 
or ivarlocks, conjurers, magicians, divines, astrolo* 
gers, interpreters of dreams, tellers of fortunes ; and, 
above all the rest, his particular modern privy- 
councillors called wits and fools. 

Though, as I have advanced in the foregoing chapter, 
the Devil has very much changed hands in his modern 
management of the world, and that, instead of the rab- 
ble and long train of implements reckoned up above, 
he now walks about in beaus, beauties, wits, and fools ; 
yet I must not omit to tell you that he has not dis- 
missed his former regiments, but, like officers in time 
of peace, he keeps them all in half-pay ; or, like extra- 
ordinary men at the custom-house, they are kept at a 
call, to be ready to fill up vacancies, or to employ when 
he is more than ordinarily full of business ; and there- 
fore it may not be amiss to give some brief account of 
them from Satan's own memoirs, their performance 
being no inconsiderable part of his history. 

Nor will it be an unprofitable digression to go back 
a little to the primitive institution of all these orders, 
for they are very ancient, and I assure you it requires 
great knowledge of antiquity to give a particular of 
their original ; I shall be very brief in it. 

In order then to this inquiry, you must know that 
it was not for want of servants that Satan took this 
sort of people into his pay ; he had, as I have observed 
in its place, millions of diligent devils at his call, what- 
ever business, and however difficult, he had for them 
to do ; but as I have said above, that our modern peo- 
ple are forwarder than even the Devil himself can de- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 311 

sire them to be, and that they come before they are 
called, run before they are sent, and crowd themselves 
into his service ; so it seems it was in those early 
days, when the world was one universal monarchy 
under his dominion, as I have at large described in its 
place. 

In those days, the wickedness of the world keeping a 
just pace with their ignorance, t his inferior sort of low- 
prized instruments did the Devil's work mighty well ; 
they drudged on in his black art so laboriously, and 
with such good success, that he found it was better to 
employ them as tools to delude and draw in mankind, 
than to send his invisible implements about, and oblige 
them to take such shapes and dresses as were necessary, 
upon every trifling occasion ; which, perhaps, was more 
cost than worship, more pains than pay. 

Having then a set of these volunteers in his service, 
the true Devil had nothing to do but to keep an exact 
correspondence with them, and communicate some 
needful powers to them, to make them be and do 
something extraordinary, and give them a reputation 
in their business ; and these, in a word, did a great 
part of, nay, almost all the Devil's business in the 
world. 

To this purpose gave he them power, (if we may be- 
lieve old Glanville, Baxter, Hicks, and other learned 
consulters of oracles,) to walk invisible, to fly in the air, 
ride upon broomsticks, and other wooden gear, to in- 
terpret dreams, answer questions, betray secrets, to 
talk (gibberish) the universal language, to raise 
storms, sell winds, bring up spirits, disturb the dead, 
and torment the living, with a thousand other needful 
tricks to amuse the world, keep themselves in venera- 
tion, and carry on the Devil's empire in the world. 

The first nations among whom these infernal prac- 
tices were found, were the Chaldeans ; and, that I may 
do justice in earnest, as well as in jest, it must be 
allowed that the Chaldeans, or those of them so called, 



312 THE MODERN 

were not conjurers or magicians, only philosophers and 
studiers of nature, wise, sober, and studious men at 
first ; and we have an extraordinary account of them ; 
and if we may believe some of our best writers of fame, 
Abraham was himself famous among them for such 
magic, as sir Walter Raleigh expresses it, Qui contem- 
plations creaturarum cognovit Creatorem. 

Now granting this, it is all to my purpose, namely, 
that the Devil drew these wise men in, to search after 
more knowledge than nature could instruct them in ; 
and the knowledge of the true God being at that time 
sunk very low, he debauched them all with dreams, 
apparitions, conjurers, &c, till he ruined the just 
notions they had, and made devils of them all, like 
himself. 

The learned Senensis, speaking of this Chaldean 
kind of learning, gives us an account of five sorts of 
them ; you will pardon me for being so grave as to go 
this length back. 

1. Chascedin or Chaldeans, properly so called, being 
astronomers. 

2. Asaphim or magicians, such was Zoroastres and 
Balaam the son of Beor. 

3. Chatumim or interpreters of dreams and hard 
speeches, enchanters, &c. 

4. Mecasphim or witches, called at first prophets, 
afterwards malefici or venefici, poisoners. 

5. Gazarim or auruspices, and diviners, such as di- 
vined by the entrails of beasts, the liver in par- 
ticular ; mentioned in Ezek. ; or, as others, called 
augurs. 

Now as to all these, I suppose I may do them no 
wrong, if I say, however justifiable they were in the 
beginning, the Devil got them all into his service at 
last ; and that brings me to my text again, from which 
the rest was a digression. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 313 

1. The Chascedin, or Chaldean astronomers, turned 
astrologers, fortune-tellers, calculators of nativi- 
ties, and vile deluders of the people, as if the wis- 
dom of the holy God was in them, as Nebuchad- 
nezzar said of Daniel on that very account. 

2. The Asaphim, or magi, or magicians ; Sixtus 
Senensis says, they were such as wrought by co- 
venants with devils, but turned to it from their 
wisdom, which was to study the practical part of 
natural philosophy, working admirable effects by 
the mutual application of natural causes. 

3. The Chatumim, from being reasoners or dis- 
puters upon difficult points in philosophy, became 
enchanters and conjurers. So, 

4. The Mecasphim, or prophets, they turned to be 
sorcerers, raisers of spirits, such as wounded by 
an evil eye, and by bitter curses, and were after- 
wards famed for having familiar converse with the 
Devil, and were called witches. 

5. The Gazarim, from the bare observing of the 
good and bad omens, by the entrails of beasts, 
flying of birds, &c, were turned to sacrists, or 
priests of the heathen idols, and sacrificers. 

Thus, I say, first or last, the Devil engrossed all the 
wise men of the East, (for so they are called,) made 
them all his own, and by them he worked wonders ; 
that is, he filled the world with lying wonders, as if 
wrought by these men, when, indeed, it was all his 
own from beginning to the end, and set on foot 
merely to propagate delusion, and impose upon blinded 
and ignorant men : the god of this world blinded their 
minds, and they were led away by the subtlety of the 
Devil, to say no worse of it, till they became devils 
themselves, as to mankind ; for they carried on the 
Devil's work upon all occasions, and the race of them 
still continue in other nations, and some of them 
among ourselves, as we shall see presently. 



314 THE MODERN 

The Arabians followed the Chaldeans in this study, 
while it was kept within its due bounds, and after 
them the Egyptians ; and, among the latter, we find 
that Jannes and Jambres were famous for their leading 
Pharaoh, by their pretended magic performances, to 
reject the real miracles of Moses ; and history tells us 
of strange pranks the wise men, the magicians, and 
the southsayers, played to delude the people in the 
most early ages of the world. 

But, as I say, now the Devil has improved himself, so 
he did then ; for the Grecian and Roman heathen rites 
coming on, they outdid all the magicians and southsay- 
ers, by establishing the Devil's lying oracles, which, as a 
masterpiece of hell, did the Devil more honour, and 
brought more homage to him, than ever he had before, 
or could arrive to since. \ . 

Again, as by the setting up tl^e oracles, all the^ ma- 
gicians and southsayers grew out of credit^so at the 
ceasing of those oracles, the Devil was fijiri ib go back 
to the old game again, and take up with the agency of 
witches, divinations, enchantments, and conjurings, as 
I hinted before, answerable to the four sorts men- 
tioned in the story of Nebuchadnezzar, viz., magi- 
cians, astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the southsayers. 
How these began to be out of request, I have men- 
tioned already ; but, as the Devil has not quite given 
them over, only laid them aside a little for the present, 
we may venture to ask what they were, and what use 
he made of them when he did employ them. 

The truth is, I think, as it was a very mean employ- 
ment for anything that wears a human countenance to 
take up, so I must acknowledge, I think it was a 
mean low-prized business for Satan to take up with ; 
below the very Devil ; below his dignity as an angelic, 
though condemned creature ; below him even as a 
Devil, to go to talk to a parcel of ugly, deformed, 
spiteful, malicious old women; to give them power to 
do mischief, who never had a will, after they entered 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 315 

into the state of old-womanhood, to do anything else, 
Why the Devil always chose the ugliest old women he 
could find, whether wizardism made them ugly that 
were not so before, and whether the ugliness, as it was 
a beauty in witchcraft, did not increase according to 
the meritorious performance in the black trade ; these 
are all questions of moment, to be decided (if human 
learning can arrive to so much perfection) in ages 
to come. 

Some say the evil eye and the wicked look were 
parts of the enchantment, and that the witches, when 
they were in the height of their business, had a 
powerful influence with both ; that by looking upon 
any person they could bewitch them, and make the 
Devil, as the Scotch express it, ride through them 
booted and spurred ; and that hence came that very 
significant saying, ' to look like a witch.' 

The strange work which the Devil has made in the 
world by this sort of his agents called witches, is such, 
and so extravagantly wild, that except our hope that 
most of those tales happen not to be true, I know not 
how any one could be easy to live near a widow after 
she was five-and-fifty. 

All the other sorts of emissaries which Satan em- 
ploys, come short of these ghosts ; and apparitions 
sometimes come and show themselves on particular 
accounts, and some of those particulars respect doing 
justice, repairing wrongs, preventing mischief; some- 
times in matters very considerable, and on things so ne- 
cessary to public benefit, that we are tempted to believe 
they proceed from some vigilant spirit who wishes us 
well ; but, on the other hand, these witches are never 
concerned in anything but mischief ; nay, if what they 
do portends good to one, it issues in hurt to many ; the 
whole tenor of their life, their design in general, is to 
do mischief, and they are only employed in mischief, 
and nothing else. How far they are furnished with 



316 THE MODERN 

ability suitable to the horrid will they are vested with, 
remains to be described. 

These witches, it is said, are furnished with power 
suitable to the occasion that is before them, and par- 
ticularly that which deserves to be considered as pre- 
diction, and foretelling events, which, I insist, the au- 
thor of witchcraft is not accomplished with himself, 
nor can he communicate it to any other. How then 
witches come to be able to foretell things to come, 
which, it is said, the Devil himself cannot know, and 
which, as I have shown, it is evident he does not know 
himself, is yet to be determined ; that witches do fore- 
tell, is certain, from the witch of Endor, who foretold 
things to Saul, which he knew not before, namely, that 
he should be slain in battle the next day, which ac- 
cordingly came to pass. 

There are, however, and notwithstanding this par- 
ticular case, many instances wherein the Devil has 
not been able to foretell approaching events, and that 
in things of the utmost consequence, and he has 
given certain foolish or false answers in such cases ; 
the Devil's priests, which were summoned in by the 
prophet Elijah, to decide the dispute between God and 
Baal, had the Devil been able to have informed them 
of it, would certainly have received notice from him, 
of what was intended against them by Elijah ; that is 
to say, that they would be all cut in pieces ; for Satan 
was not such a fool as not to know that Baal was a 
nonentity, a nothing, at best a dead man, perished and 
rotting in his grave ; for Baal was Bel or Belus, 
an ancient king of the Assyrian monarchy, and he 
could no more answer by fire to consume the sacrifice, 
than he could raise himself from the dead. 

But the priests of Baal were left of their master to 
their just fate ; namely, to be a sacrifice to the fury of 
a deluded people ; hence I infer his inability, for it 
would have been very unkind and ungrateful in him 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 317 

not to have answered them, if he had been able. There 
is another argument raised here most justly against the 
Devil, with relation to his being under restraint, and 
that of greater eminence than we imagine, and it is 
drawn from this very passage, thus : it is not to be 
doubted but that Satan, who has much of the element 
put into his hands, as prince of the air, had a power, or 
was able, potentially speaking, to have answered Baal's 
priests by fire, fire being, in virtue of his airy princi- 
pality, a part of his dominion ; but he was certainly 
withheld by the superior hand which gave him that 
dominion, I mean withheld for the occasion only. So, 
in another case, it was plain that Balaam, who was one of 
those sorts of Chaldeans mentioned above who dealt in 
divinations and enchantments, was withheld from 
cursing Israel. 

Some are of opinion that Balaam was not a witch, or 
a dealer with the Devil, because it is said of him, or 
rather he says it of himself, that he saw the visions of 
God, Numb. xxiv. 16 ; He hath said, who heard the 
words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most 
High, which saw the visions of the Almighty, falling 
into a trance, but having his eyes open. Hence they 
allege he was one of those magi which St. Augustine 
speaks of, de Divinatione, who, by the study of nature, 
and by the contemplation of created beings, came to 
the knowledge of the creature ; and that Balaam's fault 
was, that being tempted by the rewards and honours 
that the king promised him, he intended to have 
cursed Israel; but when his eyes were opened, and 
that he saw they were God's own people, he durst not 
do it. They will have it, therefore, that except, as 
above, Balaam was a good man, or, at least, that he 
had the knowledge of the true God, and the fear of 
that God upon him, and that he honestly declares this, 
Numb. xxii. 18, If Balak would give me his house full 
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the 
Lord my God ; where, though he is called a false pro • 



318 THE MODERN 

phet by some, he evidently owns God, and assumes a 
property in him, as other prophets did ; ' my God/ and 
fi I cannot go beyond his orders.' But that which gives 
me a better opinion of Balaam than all this, is his plain 
prophecy of Christ, chap. xxiv. 1 7, where he calls him 
the star of Jacob, and declares, / shall see him, but not 
now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh ; there shall come 
a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Is- 
rael, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy 
all the children of Seth ; all which express not a know- 
ledge only, but a faith in Christ : but I have done 
preaching, this is all by-the-by ; I return to my busi- 
ness, which is the history. 

There is another piece of dark practice here which 
lies between Satan and his particular agents, and which 
they may give us an answer to when they can, which, I 
think, will not be in haste ; and that is about the ob- 
sequious Devil submitting to be called up into visi- 
bility whenever an old woman has her hand crossed 
with a white sixpence, as they call it. One would 
think that instead of these vile things called witches 
being sold to the Devil, the Devil was really sold for a 
slave to them ; for how far soever Satan's residence is 
off of this state of life, they have power, it seems, to 
fetch him from home, and oblige him to come at their 
call. 

T can give little account of this, only that indeed so 
it is. Nor is the thing so strange in itself, as the 
methods to do it are mean, foolish, and ridiculous ; as 
making a circle and dancing in it, pronouncing such 
and such words, saying the Lord's prayer backward, 
and the like. Now is this agreeable to the dignity of 
the prince of the air or atmosphere, that he should be 
commanded forth with no more pomp or ceremony 
than that of muttering a few words, such as the old 
witches and he agree about ? or is there something else 
in it, which none of us or themselves understand ? 

Perhaps, indeed, he is always with those people 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 319 

called witches and conjurers, or, at least, some of his 
camp volant are always present, and so, upon the least 
call of the wizard, it is but putting off the misty cloak 
and showing themselves. 

Then we have a piece of mock pageantry in bringing 
those things called witches or conjurers to justice; that 
is, first, to know if a woman be a witch, throw her into 
a pond, and if she be a witch she will swim, and it is 
not in her own power to prevent it ; if she does all she 
can to sink herself it will not do, she will swim like a 
cork : then, that a rope will not hang a witch, but you 
must get a withe, a green osier ; that if you nail a 
horseshoe on the sill of the door she cannot come into 
the house, or go out if she be in ; these and a thousand 
more, too simple to be believed, are yet so vouched, so 
taken for granted, and so universally received for truth, 
that there is no resisting them without being thought 
atheistical. 

What methods to take to know who are witches, I 
really know not ; but, on the other side, I think there 
are a variety of methods to be used to know who are 

not : W G , esq., is a man of fame, his parts 

are great, because his estate is so ; he has threescore 
and eight lines of Virgil by rote, and they take up 
many of the intervals of his merry discourses ; he has 
just as many witty stories to please society, when they 
are well told once over he begins again ; and so he 
lives in a round of wit and learning : he is a man of 
great simplicity and sincerity ; you must be careful not 
to mistake my meaning as to the word simplicity; 
some take it to mean honesty, and so do I, only that it 
has a negative attending it in his particular case. In a 
word, W G is an honest man, and no con- 
jurer ; a good character, I think, and, without impeach- 
ment to his understanding, he may be a man of worth 
for all that. Take the other sex: there is the lady 

H , is another discovery ; bless us, what charms in 

that face! how bright those eyes! how flowing white 



320 THE MODERN 

her breasts ! how sweet her voice ! add to all, how 
heavenly, divinely good, her temper ! how inimitable 
her behaviour! how spotless her virtue! how perfect 
her innocence ! and, to sum up her character, we may 

add, the lady H is no witch. Sure, none of our 

beau critics will be so unkind now, as to censure me in 
those honest descriptions, as if I meant that my good 

friend W G , esq., or my adored angel, the 

bright, the charming lady H , were fools ; but 

what will not those savages called critics do, whose 
barbarous nature inclines them to trample on the 
brightest characters, and to cavil at the clearest ex- 
pressions ? 

It might be expected of me, however, in justice to 
my friends, and to the bright characters of abundance 
of gentlemen of this age, who, by the depth of their 
politics, and the height of their elevations, might be 
suspected, and might give us room to charge them 
with subterranean intelligence ; I say, it might be ex- 
pected that I should clear up their fame, and assure 
the world concerning them, even by name, that they 
are no conjurers, that they do not deal with the Devil, 
at least, not by way of witchcraft and divination, such 

as sir T k, E B , esq., my lord Homily, 

col. Swagger, Geoffry Wellwith, esq., capt. Harry Go- 
deeper, Mr. Wellcome Woollen, citizen and merchant- 
tailor of London, Henry Cadaver, esq., the d of 

Caerfilly, the marquis of Sillyhoo, sir Edward Thro'- 
and-Thro', bart., and a world of fine gentlemen more, 
whose great heads and weighty understandings have 
given the world such occasion to challenge them with 
being at least descended from the magi, and perhaps 
engaged with old Satan in his politics and experi- 
ments ; but I, that have such good intelligence among 
Satan's ministers of state as is necessary to the pre- 
sent undertaking, am thereby well able to clear up 
their characters ; and I doubt not but they will 
value themselves upon it, and acknowledge their obli- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 321 

gation to me, for letting the world know the Devil 
does not pretend to have had any business with them, 
or to have enrolled them in the list of his operators ; 
in a word, that none of them are conjurers. Upon 
which testimony of mine, I expect they be no longer 
charged with, or so much as suspected of, having an 
unlawful quantity of wit, or having any sorts of it 
about them that are contraband or prohibited, but 
that for the future they pass unmolested, and be taken 
for nothing but what they are, viz., very honest wor- 
thy gentlemen. 



H. D. 



322 THE MODERN 



CHAP. X. 

Of the various methods the Devil takes to converse ivith 
mankind. 

Having spoken something of persons, and particularly 
of such as the Devil thinks fit to employ in his affairs 
in the world, it comes next of course to say something 
of the manner how he communicates his mind to them, 
and by them to the rest of his acquaintance in the 
world. 

I take the Devil to be under great difficulties in his 
affairs on his part, especially occasioned by the bounds 
which are set him, or which policy obliges him to set 
to himself, in his access to the conversing with man- 
kind; it is evident he is not permitted to fall upon 
them with force and arms, that is to say, to muster up 
his infernal troops, and attack them with fire and 
sword ; if he was let loose to act in this manner, as he 
was able, by his own seraphic power, to have destroyed 
the whole race, and even the earth they dwelt upon, 
so he would certainly and long ago have effectually 
done it; his particular interests and inclinations are 
well enough known. 

But, in the next place, as he is thus restrained from 
violence, so prudentials restrain him in all his other 
actings with mankind ; and being confined to strata- 
gem, and soft still methods, such as persuasion, allure- 
ment, feeding the appetite, prompting, and then grati- 
fying corrupt desires, and the like, he finds it for his 
purpose not to appear in person, except very rarely, 
and then in disguise ; but to act all the rest in the 
dark, under the visor of art and craft, making use of 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 623 

persons and methods concealed, or at least not fully 
understood or discovered. 

As to the persons whom he employs, I have taken 
some pains you see to discover some of them ; but the 
methods he uses with them, either to inform and in- 
struct, and give orders to them, or to converse with 
other people by them, these are very particular, and 
deserve some place in our memoirs, particularly as they 
may serve to remove some of our mistakes, and to take 
off some of the frightful ideas we are apt to entertain 
in prejudice of this great manager ; as if he was no 
more to be matched in his politics, than he would be 
to be matched in his power, if it was let loose ; which 
is so much a mistake, that, on the contrary, we read of 
several people that have abused and cheated the Devil, 
a thing, which I cannot say is very honest nor just, 
notwithstanding the old Latin proverb, Fallerefallentem 
non est fraus, which men construe, or rather render, 
by way of banter upon Satan, It is no sin to cheat the 
Devil, which for all that, upon the whole, I deny, and 
allege that let the Devil act how he will by us, we ought 
to deal fairly by him. 

But to come to the business, without circumlocu- 
tions ; I am to inquire how Satan issues out his 
orders, gives his instructions, and fully delivers his 
mind to his emissaries, of whom I have mentioned 
some in the title to chap. ix. In order to this, you 
must form an idea of the Devil sitting in great state, 
in open campaign, with all his legions about him, in 
the height of the atmosphere ; or, if you will, at a cer- 
tain distance from the atmosphere, and above it, that 
the plan of his encampment might not be hurried 
round its own axis, with the earth's diurnal motion, 
which might be some disturbance to him. 

By this fixed situation, the earth performing its ro- 
tation, he has every part and parcel of it brought to a 
direct opposition to him, and consequently to his view, 
once in twenty-four hours. The last time I was there, 

y2 



324 THE MODERN 

if I remember right, he had this quarter of the world, 
which we call Christendom, just under his eye ; and as 
the motion is not so swift, but that his piercing optics 
can take a strict view of it en passant ; for the circum- 
ference of it being but twenty-one thousand miles, and 
its circular motion being full twenty-four hours per- 
forming, he has something more than an hour to view 
every thousand miles, which, to his supernatural pene- 
tration, is not worth naming. 

As he takes thus a daily view of all the circle, and 
an hourly view of the parts, he is fully master of all 
transactions, at least, such as are done above board 
by all mankind ; and then he despatches his emissaries, 
or aid du camps, to every part with his orders and in- 
structions. Now these emissaries, you are to understand, 
are not the witches and diviners, who I spoke of 
above, for I call them also emissaries ; but they are all 
devils or (as you know they are called) devil's angels ; 
and these may, perhaps, come and converse personally 
with the sub-emissaries I mentioned, to be ready for 
their support and assistance on all occasions of busi- 
ness : these are those devils which the witches are 
said to raise ; for we can hardly suppose the master 
devil comes himself at the summons of every ugly old 
woman. 

These run about into every nook and corner, where- 
ever Satan's business calls them, and are never want- 
ing to him ; but are the most diligent devils ima- 
ginable ; like the Turkish chaiux, they no sooner re- 
ceive their errand, but they execute it with the utmost 
alacrity ; and as to their speed, it may be truly written 
as a motto, upon the head of every individual devil, 

Non indiget calcaribus. 

These are those, who they tell us, our witches, 
sorcerers, wizards, and such sorts of folks, converse 
freely with, and are therefore called their familiars ; 
and, as they tell us, come to them in human shapes, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 325 

talk to them with articulate plain voices, as if men, 
and that yet the said witches, &c, know them to be 
devils. 

History has not yet enlightened us in this part of 
useful knowledge, or at least not sufficiently for a de- 
scription of the persons or habits of these sorts of ap- 
pearances ; as what shapes they take up, what lan- 
guage they speak, and what particular works they per- 
form, so we must refer it to further inquiry ; but if we 
may credit history, we are told many famous stories of 
these appearances ; for example, the famous mother 
Lakland, who was burnt for a witch at Ipswich, anno 
1645, confessed, at the time of her execution, or a little 
before it, that she had frequent conversations with the 
Devil himself; that she being very poor, and withal 
of a devilish, passionate, cruel and revengeful disposi- 
tion before, used to wish she had it in her power to do 
such and such mischievous things to some that she 
hated, and that the Devil himself, who, it seems, knew 
her temper, came to her one night as she lay in her 
bed, and was between sleeping and waking, and speak- 
ing in a deep hollow voice, told her, if she would 
serve him in some things he would employ her to do, 
she should have her will of all her enemies, and should 
want for nothing : that she was much afraid at first, 
but that he soliciting her very often, bade her not be 
afraid of him, and still urged her to yield, and, as she 
says, struck his claw into her hand, and though it did 
not hurt her, made it bleed, and with the blood wrote 
the covenants, that is to say, the bargain between 
them. Being asked what was in them, and whether he 
required her to curse or deny God or Christ, she 
said, No. 

N. B. I do not find she told them whether the 
Devil wrote it with a pen, or whether on paper or 
parchment, nor whether she signed it or no, but 
it seems he carried it away with him. I suppose, 



326 THE MODERN 

if Satan's register were examined, it might be 
found among the archives of hell, the rolls of his 
acta publica ; and when his historiographer royal 
publishes them, we may look for it among them. 

Then he furnished her with three devils, to wait 
upon her (I suppose) for she confessed they were to be 
employed in her service ; they attended in the shapes 
of two little dogs and a mole. The first she bewitched 
was her own husband, by which he lay awhile in 
great misery and died ; then she sent to one captain 
Beal, and burnt a new ship of his just built, which 
had never been at sea ; these, and many other horrid 
things she did and confessed, and having been twenty 
years a witch, at last the Devil left her, and she was 
burnt as she deserved. 

That some extraordinary occasions may bring these 
agents of the Devil, nay, sometimes the Devil himself, 
to assume human shapes, and appear to other people, 
we cannot doubt ; he did thus in the case of our 
Saviour as a tempter, and some think he did so to 
Manasses as a familiar, who the Scripture charges with 
sorcery, and having a familiar or devil. Fame tells us 
that St. Dunstan frequently conversed with him, and 
finally, took him by the nose ; and so of others. 

But in these modern ages of the world, he finds it 
much more to his purpose to work under ground, as I 
have observed, and to keep upon the reserve ; so that 
we have no authentic account of his personal appear- 
ance, but what are very ancient or very remote from 
our faith, as well as our inquiry. 

It seems to be a question that would bear some de- 
bating, whether all apparitions are not devils, or from 
the Devil ; but there being so many of those appari- 
tions which we call spirits, which really assume shapes 
and make appearances in the world, upon such ac- 
counts as we know Satan himself scorns to be employed 
in, that I must dismiss the question in favour of the 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 327 

Devil ; assuring them, that as he never willingly did 
any good in his life, so he would be far from giving 
himself the trouble of setting one foot into the world 
on such an errand; and for that reason we may be 
assured those certain apparitions, which we are told 
came to detect a murder in Gloucestershire, and others 
who appeared to prevent the ruining an orphan for 
want of finding a deed, that was not lost, was certainly 
some other power equally concerned, and not the 
Devil. 

On the other hand, neither will it follow that Satan 
never appears in human shape ; for though every ap- 
parition may not be the Devil, yet it does not follow 
that the Devil never makes an apparition : all I shall 
say to it is, as I have mentioned before, that, generally 
speaking, the Devil finds it more for his purpose to 
have his interest in the world propagated another way ; 
namely, in private, and his personal appearances are 
reserved for things only of extraordinary consequence, 
and, as I may say, of evident nesessity, where his ho- 
nour is concerned, and where his interest could be 
carried on no other way ; not forgetting to take notice 
that this is very seldom. 

It remains to inquire, what then those things are 
which we make so much stir about, and which are called 
apparitions, or spirits assuming human shapes, and 
showing themselves to people on particular occasions ? 
whether they are evil spirits or good ? and though, in- 
deed, this is out of my way at this time, and does not 
relate at all to the Devil's history, yet I thought it not 
amiss to mention it. 1st, Because, as I have said, I do 
not wholly exclude Satan from all concern in such 
things ; and 2ndly, because I shall dismiss the question 
with so very short an answer, namely, that we may de- 
termine which are and which are not the Devil's, by 
the errand they come upon ; every one to his own bu- 
siness. If it comes of a good errand, you may certainly 
acquit the Devil of it, conclude him innocent, and that 



328 THE MODERN 

he has no hand in it ; if it comes of a wicked and de- 
vilish errand, you may e'en take him up upon suspi- 
cion, 'tis ten to one but you find him at the bottom 
of it. 

Next to apparitions, we find mankind disturbed by 
abundance of little odd reserved ways which the Devil 
is shrewdly suspected of having a hand in, such as 
dreams, noises, voices, &c, smells of brimstone, candles 
burning blue, and the like. 

As to dreams, I have nothing to say in Satan's pre- 
judice at all there ; I make no queston but he deals very 
much in that kind of intelligence, and why should he not? 
We know Heaven itself formerly conversed very often 
with the greatest of men by the same method, and the 
Devil is known to mimic the methods, as well as the 
actions, of his Maker ; whether Heaven has not quite 
left off that way of working, we are not certain ; but 
w r e pretty well know the Devil has not left it, and I 
believe some instances may be given where his worship 
has been really seen and talked to in sleep, as much as 
if the person had been awake with his eyes open. 

These are to be distinguished too, pretty much by 
the goodness or badness of the subject ; how often 
have men committed murder, robbery, and adultery in 
a dream, and at the same time except an extraordinary 
agitation of the soul, and expressed by extraordinary 
noises in the sleep, by violent sweating, and other such 
ways, the head has never been removed from the 
pillow, or the body so much as turned in the bed. 

Whether in such cases, the soul, with all the passions 
and affections, being agitated, and giving their full 
assent to the facts, of whatever kind soever, the man 
is not as guilty as if the sins so dreamed of his com- 
mitting, had been actually committed ; though it be 
no doubt to me, but that it is so, yet as it is foreign to 
the present affair, and not at all relating to the Devil's 
history, I leave it to the reverend doctors of the church, 
as properly belonging to them to decide. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 329 

I knew a person who the Devil so haunted with 
naked women, fine beautiful ladies in bed with him, 
and ladies of his acquaintance too, offering their favours 
to him, and all in his sleep, so that he seldom slept 
without some such entertainment ; the particulars are 
too gross for my story, but he gave me several long ac- 
counts of his nights' amours, and being a man of a 
virtuous life and good morals, it was the greatest sur- 
prise to him imaginable ; for you cannot doubt but 
that the cunning Devil made everything he acted to 
the life with him, and in a manner the most wicked ; 
he owned with grief to me, that the very first attack 
the Devil made upon him, was with a very beautiful 
lady of his acquaintance, who he had been really some- 
thing freer than ordinary with in their common con- 
versation. This lady he brought to him in a posture 
for wickedness, and wrought up his inclination so high 
in his sleep, that he, as he thought, actually went about 
to debauch her, she not at all resisting ; but that he 
waked in the very moment, to his particular satis- 
faction. 

He was greatly concerned at this part, namely, that 
he really gave the consent of his will to the fact, and 
wanted to know if he was not as guilty of adultery as 
if he had lain with her ; indeed he decided the ques- 
tion against himself so forcibly, that I, who was of the 
same opinion before, had nothing to say against it ; 
however, I confirmed him in it, by asking him these 
questions : 

1. Whether he did not think the Devil had the chief 
hand in such a dream ? He answered, it could cer- 
tainly be nobody else, it must be the Devil. 

2. I then asked him what reason the Devil could 
have for it, if his consent to the fact in sleep had 
not been criminal ? That's true indeed, says he, 
I am answered. But then he asked another 
question, which, I confess, is not so easy to an- 



330 THE MODERN 

swer, namely, how lie should prevent being served 
so again? 

Nor could all my divinity or his own keep the Devil 
from attacking him again ; on the other hand, as I 
have said, he worried him to that degree, that he in- 
jured his health, bringing naked women to him, some- 
times one, sometimes another, sometimes in one pos- 
ture of lewdness, sometimes in another, sometimes into 
his very arms, sometimes with such additions as I am 
not merry enough, and sometimes such as I am not 
wicked enough to put into your heads ; the man, in- 
deed, could not help it, and so the Devil was more 
faulty than he ; but as I hinted to him, he might bring 
his mind to such a stated habit of virtue, as to prevent 
its assenting to any wicked motion, even in sleep, and 
that would be the way to pat an end to the attempt ; 
and this advice he relished very well, and practised, I 
believe, with success. 

By this same method, the same devil injects power- 
ful incentives to other crimes, provokes avarice by 
laying a great quantity of gold in your view, and no- 
body present, giving you an opportunity to steal it, or 
some of it, at the same time, perhaps, knowing your 
circumstances to be such as that you are at that time 
in a great want of the money. 

I knew another, who, being a tradesman, and in 
great distress for money in his business, dreamed that 
he was walking all alone in a great wood, and that he 
met a little child with a bag of gold in its hand, and a 
fine necklace of diamonds on its neck ; upon the sight, 
his wants presently dictated to him to rob the child ; 
the little innocent creature, (just so he dreamed,) not 
being able to resist, or to tell who it was ; accordingly, 
he consented to take the money from the child, and 
then to take the diamond necklace from it too, and 
did so. 

But the Devil, (a full testimony, as I told him, that 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 331 

it was the Devil,) not contented with that, hinted to 
him, that perhaps the child might some time or other 
know him, and single him out, by crying or pointing, 
or some such thing, especially if he was suspected and 
showed to it, and therefore it would be better for him 
to kill the child, prompting him to kill it for his own 
safety, and that he need do no more but twist the neck 
of it a little, or crush it with his knee ; he told me he 
stood debating with himself whether he should do so 
or not ; but that in that instant his heart struck him 
with the word murder, and he entertained a horror of 
it, refused to do it, and immediately waked. 

He told me that when he waked, he found himself 
in so violent a sweat as he never had known the like ; 
that his pulse beat with that heat and rage, that it was 
like a palpitation of the heart to him, and that the agi- 
tation of his spirits was such, that he was not fully 
composed in some hours ; though the satisfaction and 
joy that attended him when he found it was but a 
dream, assisted much to return his spirits to their due 
temperament. 

It is neither my business or inclination to turn 
divine here, nor is the age I write to sufficiently grave 
to relish a sermon, if I was disposed to preach, though 
they must allow the subject would very well bear it ; 
but I shall only ask them if they think this is not the 
Devil, what they think it is ? if they believe it is the 
Devil, they will act accordingly I hope, or let it alone, 
as Satan and they can agree about it. 

I should not oblige the Devil over much, whatever I 
might do to those that read it, if I should enter here 
upon a debate of interests, viz., to inquire whether 
the Devil has not a vast advantage upon mankind this 
way, and whether it is not much his interest to preserve 
it ; and if I prove the affirmative, I leave it to you to 
inquire whose interest it is to disappoint and supplant 
him. 

In short, I take dreams to be the second best of the 



332 THE MODERN 

advantages the Devil has over mankind ; the first, I 
suppose, you all know, viz., the treachery of the garri- 
son within ; by dreams he may be said to get into the 
inside of us without opposition ; here he opens and 
locks without a key, and like an enemy laying siege to 
a fortified city, reason and nature, the governor of the 
city, keep him out by day, and keep the garrison true 
to their duty ; but in the dark he gets in and parleys 
with the garrison, (the affections and passions,) de- 
bauches their loyalty, stirring up them to disloyalty 
and rebellion, so they betray their trust, revolt, mutiny, 
and go over to the besieger. 

Thus he manages his interest, I say, and insinuates 
himself into the inside of us, without our consent, nay, 
without our knowledge ; for whatever speculation may 
do, it is evident demonstration does not assist us to 
discover which way he gets access to the soul, while 
the organ tied up, and dozed with sleep, has locked it 
up from action ; that it is so is clear, but how he does 
it is a secret which I do not find the ancients or 
moderns have yet made a discovery of. 

That devil of a creature, mother Lakland, whose 
story I mentioned above, acknowledged that the first 
time the Devil attempted to draw her in to be a witch 
was in a dream, and even when she consented, she 
said, she was between sleeping and waking ; that is, 
she did not know whether she was awake or asleep, 
and the cunning devil it seems was satisfied with her 
assent given so, when she was asleep, or neither asleep 
or awake, so taking advantage of her incapacity to act 
rationally. 

The stories of her bewitching several people, and 
the manner in which they died, are so formidable and 
extravagant, that I care not to put any one's faith to 
the stretch about them, though published by authority, 
and testified by abundance of witnesses ; but this is re- 
corded in particular, and to my purpose, whether from 
her own mouth or not, I do not say, namely, the de- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 333 

scription of a witch, and the difference between 
witches and those other of Satan's acquaintance who 
act in his name. 

1. They have consulted and covenanted with a spirit 
or devil. 

2. They have a deputy devil, sometimes several, to 
serve and assist them. 

3. These they employ as they please, call them by 
name, and command their appearance in whatever 
shape they think fit. 

4. They send them abroad, to or into the persons 
who they design to bewitch, who they always tor- 
ment, and often murder them, as mother Lakland 
did several. 

As to the difference between the several devils 
that appear, it relates to the office of the persons 
who employ them ; as conjurers, who seem to com- 
mand the particular devil that waits upon them 
with more authority, and raise them and lay them 
at pleasure, drawing circles, casting figures, and the 
like ; but the witch, in a more familiar manner, whis- 
pers with the Devil, keeps the Devil in a bag or a sack, 
sometimes in her pocket, and the like, and like Mr. 
Faux shows tricks with him. 

But all these kinds deal much in dreams, talk with 
the Devil in their sleep, and make other people talk 
with him in their sleep too; and it is on this occasion I 
mention it here ; in short, the Devil may well take this 
opportunity with mankind, for not half the world that 
came into his measures would comply if they were 
awake ; but of that hereafter. 

And yet his thus insinuating himself by dream, does 
not seem sufficient, in my opinion, to answer the Devil's 
end, and to carry on his business ; and therefore we 
must be forced to allow him a kind of actual possession, 
in particular cases, and that in the souls of some people 



334 THE MODERN 

by different methods from others. Luther is of the 
opinion that the Devil gets a familiarity with some 
souls just at, or rather before, their being embodied ; 
as to the manner and method how he gets in, that is 
another question, and may be spoken of by itself; be- 
sides, why may not He, that at Satan's request to enter 
into the herd of swine, said Go, give the same com- 
mission to possess a sort of creatures so many degrees 
below the dignity of the Gadarenian swine, and open 
the door too ? Bat as for that, when our Lord said Go, 
the Devil never inquired which way he should get in. 

When I see nations, or indeed herds of nations, set 
on fire of hell, and as I may say, inflamed by the 
Devil ; when I see towns, parties, factions and rabbles 
of people visibly possessed ; it is enough to me that 
the great Master of the devils has said to him, Go ; 
there is no need to inquire which way he finds open, 
or at what postern gate he gets in ; as to his appear- 
ing, it is plain he often gets in without appearing, and 
therefore the question about his appearing still remains 
a doubt, and is not very easy to be resolved. 

In the Scripture we have some light into it, and 
that is all the help 1 find from antiquity, and it goes a 
great way to solve the phenomena of Satan's appear- 
ing ; what I mean by the Scripture giving some light 
to it, is this ; it is said in several places, and of several 
persons, God came to them in a dream ; Gen. xx. 3, 
God came to Abimelech in a dream by night Gen. 
xxxi. 24, And God came to Laban the Syrian in a 
dream. Matt. ii. 13, The angel of the Lord appeared 
to Joseph in a dream ; short comments are sufficient 
to plain texts, applying this to my friend when he 
wanted to be satisfied about the how, relating to his 
dream, viz,, how he should come to dream such wicked 
things ? I told him, in short, the case was plain, the 
Devil came to him in a dream by night. How and in 
what manner he formed the wicked representations, 
and spread debauched appearances before his fancy, by 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 335 

real whispers and voice, according to Milton, or by 
what other methods, the learned are not arrived to 
any certainty about it. 

This leads me necessarily to inquire whether the 
Devil or some of his agents are not always in our 
company, whether they make any visible appearances 
or no ? For my part I make no question of it, how else 
could he come at the knowledge of what we do ; for as 
I can allow him no prescience at all, (as for many rea- 
sons I have observed already,) he must be able to see 
and know us, and what we are about when we know 
nothing of him, or else he could know nothing of us 
and our affairs ; which yet we find otherwise ; and this 
gives him infinite advantage to influence our actions, 
to judge of our inclinations, and to bring our passions 
to clash with our reason, as they often do, and get the 
better of it too. 

All this he obtains by his being able to walk about 
invisible, and see when he is not seen, of which I have 
spoken already ; hence that most wise and solid sug- 
gestion, that when the candles burn blue the Devil is 
in the room, which great secret in nature, that you 
may more fully be convinced of its imaginary reality, 
I must tell you the following story, which I saw in a 
letter directed to a particular friend, take it word for 
word as in the letter ; because I do not make myself 
accountable for the facts, but take them ad referen- 
dum : — 

Sm, 

We had one day, very early in the morning, and for 
the most part of the day, a great deal of rain, with a 
high wind, and the clouds very thick and dark all 
day. 

In the evening, the cloudy thick weather continued, 
though not the rain, when, being at a friend's house in 

lane, London, and several ladies and some gentle- 
men in the room, besides two or three servants, (for 



336 THE MODERN 

we had been eating,) the following interlude happened 
for our entertainment : when the cloth was taken away, 
two large candles were brought upon the table and 
placed there, with some bottles and glasses for the 
gentlemen, who, it seems, were intending to drink and 
be very merry; two large wax candles were also set 
on another table, the ladies being going to cards; also 
there were two large candles in sconces over or near 
the chimney, and one more in a looking-glass sconce 
on a pier by the window. 

With all this apparatus, the company, separating, 
sat down, the gentlemen at their table, and the ladies 
at theirs, to play as above ; when, after some time, the 
gentleman of the house said hastily to a servant, What 

a p ails the candles ; and, turning to the servant, 

raps out an oath or two, and bids him snuff the can- 
dles, for they burned as if the Devil was in the room. 

The fellow going to snuff one of the candles, snuffs 
it out, at which, his master being in a passion, the 
fellow lights it again immediately at the other candle, 
and then, being in a little hurry, going to snuff the 
other candle, snuffed that out too. 

The first candle that was relighted (as is usual in 
such cases) burned dim and dull for a good while, and 
the other being out, the room was much darker than 
before, and a wench that stood by the ladies' table, 
bawls out to her mistress, Law, madam ! the candles 
burn blue ! An old lady that sat by says, Ay, Betty ! so 
they do : upon this one of the ladies starts up, Mercy j 
upon us, says she, what is the matter ? In this unlucky 
moment another servant, without orders, went to the 
great pier sconce, and because, as he thought, he 
would be sure to snuff the candle well, he offers to 
take it down, but, very unhappily, I say, the hook 
came out, down falls the sconce, candle and all, 
and the looking-glass broke all to pieces, with a hor- 
rible noise ; however, the candle falling out of the 
sconce did not go out, but lay on the floor burning 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 337 

dully, and, as it is usual on such cases, all on one side. 
Betty cries out again, Law, madam, that candle burns 
blue too. The very moment she said this, the footman, 
that had thrown down the sconce, says to his fellow- 
servant that came to his assistance, I think the Devil 
is in the candles to-night, and away he run out of the 
room for fear of his master. 

The old lady, who, upon the maid Betty's notion 
of the candles burning blue, had her head just full of 
that old chimney-corner story, ' the candles burn blue 
when spirits are in the room,' heard the footman say 
the word devil, but heard nothing else of what he said ; 
upon this she rises up in a terrible fright, and cries out 
that the footman said the Devil was in the room; as 
she was, indeed, frightened out of her wits, she fright- 
ened the ladies most terribly, and they all starting up 
together, down goes the card table, and put the wax 
candles out. 

Mrs. Betty, that had frightened them all, runs to the 
sconce next the chimney, but that having a long snuff, 
she cried out it burnt blue too, and she durst not 
touch it ; in short, though there were three candles 
left still burning in the room, yet the ladies were all so 
frightened, that they and the maids too run out of the 
parlour screaming like mad folks. The master in a 
rage kicked his first man out of the room, and the 
second man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the 
like, so that no servant was to be had, but all was in 
confusion. 

The two other gentlemen, who were sitting at the 
first table, kept their seats, composed and easy enough, 
only concerned to see all the house in such a fright ; 
it was true, they said, the candles burnt dim, and very 
oddly, but they could not perceive they burnt blue, 
except one of those over the chimney, and that on the 
table, which was relighted after the fellow had snuffed 
it out. 

However, the maid, the old lady, and the footman 

H. D. Z 



338 THE MODERN 

that pulled down the sconce, all insist that the candles 
burnt blue, and all pretend that the Devil was cer- 
tainly in the room, and was the occasion of it ; and 
they now came to me with the story, to desire my opi- 
nion of it. 

This put me upon inquiry into the notion of can- 
dles burning blue when spirits are in a room, which, 
upon all the search into things, that I am able to 
make, amounts to no more than this ; that upon any 
extraordinary emission of sulphurous or of nitrous par- 
ticles, either in a close room, or in any not very open 
place, if the quantity be great, a candle or lamp, or 
any such little blaze of fire, will seem to be, or to burn 
blue ; and if then they can prove that any such efflu- 
via attends, or is emitted from a spirit, then, when 
Satan is at hand, it may be so. 

But then, it is begging the question grossly, be- 
cause no man can assure us that the Devil has any 
such sulphurous particles about him. 

It is true, the candles burn thus in mines and vaults, 
and damp places ; and it is as true that they will do so 
upon occasion of very damp, stormy, and moist air, 
when an extraordinary quantity of vapours are sup- 
posed to be dispersed abroad, as was the case when 
this happened ; and if there was anything of that in it 
on that Monday night, the candles might, perhaps, 
burn blue upon that occasion ; but that the Devil was 
abroad upon any extraordinary business that night, 
that I cannot grant, unless I have some better testi- 
mony than the old lady that heard the footman's out- 
cry but by halves, or than Mrs. Betty, who first fan- 
cied the candles burnt blue ; so I must suspend my 
judgment till I hear further. 

This story, however, may solve a great many of those 
things which pass for apparitions in the world, and 
which are laid to the Devil's charge, though he really 
may know nothing of the matter ; and this would bring 
me to defend Satan in many things wherein he may truly 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 339 

be said to suffer wrongfully ; and, if I thought it would 
oblige him, I might say something to his advantage 
this way ; however, I will venture a word or two for an 
injured devil, take it as you will. 

First, it is certain, that as this invisibility of the 
Devil is very much to our prejudice, so the doctrine of 
his visibility is a great prejudice to him, as we make 
use of it. 

By his invisibility he is certainly vested with infinite 
advantages against us ; while he can be present with 
us, and we know nothing of the matter, he informs 
himself of all our measures, and arms himself in the 
best and most suitable manner to injure and assault us, 
as he can counteract all our secret concerted designs, 
disappoint all our schemes, and, except when heaven 
apparently concerns itself to overrule him, can defeat 
all our enterprises, break all our measures, and do us 
mischief in almost every part of our life ; and all this 
because we are not privy to all his motions, as he is to 
ours. 

But now for his visibility, and his real appearance in 
the world, and particularly among his disciples and 
emissaries, such as witches and wizards, demoniasts, 
and the like ; here I think Satan has a great deal of 
loss, suffers manifest injury, and has great injustice 
done him ; and that therefore I ought to clear this 
matter up a little, if it be possible to do justice to 
Satan, and set matters right in the world about him, 
according to that useful old maxim of setting the 
saddle upon the right horse, or giving the Devil his 
due. 

First, as I have said, we are not to believe every 
idle head, who pretends even to converse face to face 
with the Devil, and who tell us they have thus seen 
him and been acquainted with him every day ; many 
of these pretenders are manifest cheats, and however 
they would have the honour of a private interest in 
him, and boast how they have him at their beck, can 

z 2 



340 THE MODERN 

call him this way and send him that, as they please, 
raise him and lay him, when, and how, and as often as 
they find for their purpose ; I say, whatever boasts they 
make of this kind, they really have nothing of truth in 
them. 

Now the injuries and injustice done to the Devil in 
these cases are manifest ; namely, that they entitle the 
Devil to all the mischief they are pleased to do in the 
world ; and if they commit a murder or a robbery, fire 
a house, or do any act of violence in the world, they 
presently are said to do it by the agency of the Devil, 
and the Devil helps them ; so Satan bears the reproach, 
and they have all the guilt. This is, 1, a grand cheat 
upon the world, and 2, a notorious slander upon the 
Devil ; and it would be a public benefit to mankind to 
have such would-be devils as these turned inside out, 
that we might know when the Devil was really at 
work among us, and when not; what mischiefs were 
of his doing, and which were not ; and that these fel- 
lows might not slip their necks out of the halter by 
continually laying the blame of their wickedness upon 
the Devil. 

Not that the Devil is not very willing to have his 
hand in any mischief, or in all the mischief that is done 
in the world ; but there are some low-prized rogueries 
that are too little for him, beneath the dignity of his 
operation, and which it is really a scandal to the Devil 
to charge upon him. I remember the Devil had such 
a cheat put upon him in East Smithfield once T where 
a person pretended to converse with the Devil face to 
face, and that in open day, too, and to cause him to 
tell fortunes, foretell good and evil, &c, discover stolen 
goods, tell where they were who stole them, and how 
to find them again, nay, and even to find out the 
thieves : but Satan was really slandered in the case, 
the fellow had no more to do with the Devil than other 
people, and perhaps not so much neither : this was one 
of those they called ' cunning men,' or, at least, he en- 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 341 

deavoured to pass for such a one ; but it was all a 
cheat. 

Besides, what had the Devil to do to detect thieves 
and restore stolen goods? Thieving and robbing, 
trick and cheat, are part of the craft of his agency, and 
of the employments which it is his business to encou- 
rage : they greatly mistake him, who think he will as- 
sist anybody in suppressing and detecting such laudable 
arts and such diligent servants. 

I will not say, bat the Devil, to draw these people 
we call cunning men into a snare, and to push on his 
further designs, may encourage them privately, and in 
a manner that they themselves know nothing of, to 
make use of his name, and abuse the world about him; 
till at last they may really believe that they do deal 
with the Devil, when, indeed, it is only he deals with 
them, and they know nothing of the matter. 

In other cases he may encourage them in these little 
frauds and cheats, and give them leave, as above, to 
make use of his name, to bring them afterwards, and 
by degrees, to have a real acquaintance with him ; so 
bringing the jest of their trade into earnest; till, at 
length, prompting them to commit some great villany, 
he secures them to be his own by their very fear of his 
leaving them to be exposed to the world ; thus he puts 
a Jonathan Wild upon them, and makes them be the 
very wretches they only pretended to be before ; so old 
Parsons of Clithroe, as fame tells, was twenty-five years 
a cunning man, and twenty-two years a witch; that is 
to say, for five-and-twenty years he was only pretend- 
ing to deal with the Devil, when Satan and he had no 
manner of acquaintance, and he only put his legerde- 
main upon the people in the Devil's name, without his 
leave ; but, at length, the Devil's patience being tired 
quite out, he told the old counterfeit that, in short, he 
had been his stalking-horse long enough, and that now, 
if he thought fit to enter himself and take a commis- 
sion, well and good, and he should have a lease to 



342 THE MODERN 

carry on his trade for so many years more, to his 
heart's content ; but if not, he would expose his 
knavery to the world, for that he should take away his 
people's trade no longer, but that he (Satan) would set 
up another in his room that should make a mere fool of 
him, and carry away all his customers. 

Upon this the old man considered of it, took the 
Devil's counsel, and listed in his pay ; so he, that had 
played his pranks twenty-five years as a conjurer when 
he was no conjurer, was then forced really to deal with 
the Devil for fear the people should know he did not : 
till now he had ambo dexter, cheated the Devil on 
one hand, and the people on the other ; bat the 
Devil gained his point at last, and so he was a real 
wizard ever after. 

But this is not the only way the Devil is injured 
neither, for we have often found people pretend upon 
him in other cases, and of nearer concern to him a 
great deal, and in articles more weighty ; as, in parti- 
cular, in the great business of possession. It is true, 
this point is not thoroughly understood among men, 
neither has the Devil thought fit to give us those illu- 
minations about it, as, I believe, he might do ; particu- 
larly that great and important article is not, for aught 
I can see, rightly explained, namely, whether there are 
not two several kinds of possession ; viz., some wherein 
the Devil possesses us, and some in which we really 
possess the Devil ; the nicety of which, I doubt, this 
age, with all its penetration, is not qualified to ex- 
plain ; and a dissertation upon it being too long for 
this work, especially so near its conclusion, I am 
obliged to omit, as I am also all the practical discourses 
upon the usefulness and advantages of real possession, 
whether considered one way or other to mankind, all 
which I must leave to hereafter. 

But to come back to the point in hand, and to con- 
sider the injustice done to the Devil, in the various 
turns and tricks which men put upon him very often 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 543 

in this one article, viz., pretending to possession, and 
to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so ; 
certainly the Devil must take it very ill, to have all 
their demented lunatic tricks charged upon him, some 
of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so simple, 
so empty, and so little to the purpose, that the Devil 
must be ashamed to see such things pass in his name, 
or that the world should think he was concerned in 
them. 

It is true, that possession, being one of the principal 
pieces of the Devil's artifice in his managing mankind, 
and in which, with the most exquisite skill, he plays 
the devil among us, he has the more reason to be 
affronted when he finds himself invaded in this part, 
and angry that anybody should pretend to possess, or 
be possessed, without his leave ; and this may be the 
reason, for aught we know, why so many blunders have 
been made, when people have pretended to it without 
him, and he has thought fit not to own them in it : of 
which we have many examples in history, as in Simon 
Magus, the devil of London, the Fair Maid of Kent, 
and several others, whose history it is not worth while 
to enlarge upon. 

In short, possessions, as I have said, are nice things, 
and it is not so easy to mimic the Devil in that part, 
as it may be in some other; designing men have 
attempted it often, but their manner has been easily 
distinguished, even without the Devil's assistance. 

Thus the people of Salem, in New England, pre- 
tended to be bewitched, and that a black man tor- 
mented them by the instigation of such and such, whom 
they resolved to bring to the gallows : this black man 
they would have be the Devil, employed by the person 
who they accused for a witch : thus making the Devil 
a page or a footman to the wizard, to go and torment 
whoever the said wizard commanded, till the Devil 
himself was so weary of the foolish part, that he left 
them to go on their own way, and at last they overacted 



344 THE MODERN 

the murdering part so far, that when they confessed 
themselves to be witches, and possessed, and that they 
had correspondence with the Devil, Satan not appear- 
ing to vouch for them, no jury would condemn them 
upon their own evidence, and they could not get them- 
selves hanged, whatever pains they took to bring it to 
pass. 

Thus you see the Devil may be wronged, and falsely 
accused in many particulars, and often has been so-; 
there are likewise some other sorts of counterfeit devils 
in the world, such as gipseys, fortune-tellers, foretellers 
of good and bad luck, sellers of winds, raisers of 
storms, and many more, some practised among us, 
some in foreign parts, too many almost to reckon up ; 
nay, I almost doubt whether the Devil himself knows 
all the sorts of them ; for it is evident he has little or 
nothing to do with them, I mean not in the way of 
their craft. 

These I take to be interlopers, or, with the Guinea 
merchants' leave, separate traders, and who act under 
the screen and protection of Satan's power, but without 
his license or authority ; no doubt these carry away a 
great deal of his trade, that is to say, the trade which 
otherwise the Devil might have carried on by agents 
of his own ; I cannot but say, that while these people 
would fain be thought devils, though they really are 
not, it is but just they should be really made as much 
devils as they pretended to be, or that Satan should 
do himself justice upon them, as he threatened to do 
upon old Parsons of Clithroe above mentioned, and 
let the world know them. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 345 



CHAP. XL 

Of divination, sorcery, the black art, pawawing, and 
such like pretenders to devilism, and how far the 
Devil is or is not concerned in them. 

Though I am writing the history of the Devil, I have 
not undertaken to do the like of all the kinds of peo- 
ple, male or female, who set up for devils in tbe world : 
this would be a task for the Devil indeed, and fit only 
for him to undertake, for their number is and has been 
prodigious great, and may, with his other legions, be 
ranked among the innumerable. 

What a world do we inhabit ! where there is not 
only with us a great roaring lion-devil daily seeking 
whom of us he may devour, and innumerable millions 
of lesser devils hovering in the whole atmosphere over 
us, nay, and for aught we know, other millions always 
invisibly moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at 
least in many of us ; but that have, besides all these, a 
vast many counterfeit hocus-pocus devils ; human 
devils, who are visible among us, of our own species 
and fraternity, conversing with us upon all occasions ; 
who, like mountebanks, set up their stages in every 
town, chat with us at every tea-table, converse with 
us in every coffee-house, and impudently tell us to our 
faces that they are devils, boast of it, and use a thou- 
sand tricks and arts to make us believe it too, and that 
too often with success. 

It must be confessed, there is a strong propensity in 
man's nature, especially the more ignorant part of 
mankind, to resolve every strange thing, or whether 
really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into 



346 THE MODERN 

devilism, and to say everything is the Devil, that they 
can give no account of. 

Thus the famous doctors of the faculty at Paris, 
when John Faustus brought the first printed books 
that had then been seen in the world, or at least seen 
there, into the city, and sold them for manuscripts : 
they were surprised at the performance, and questioned 
Faustus about it; but he affirming they were manu- 
scripts, and that he kept a great many clerks employed 
to write them, they were satisfied for awhile. 

But looking further into the work, they observed the 
exact agreement of every book, one with another, that 
every line stood in the same place, every page a like 
number of lines, every line a like number of words ; if 
a word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, 
nay, that if there was a blot in one, it was alike in all ; 
they began again to muse, how this should be ; in a 
word, the learned divines not being able to compre- 
hend the thing, (and that was always sufficient,) con- 
cluded it must be the Devil, that it was done by magic 
and witchcraft, and that in short, poor Faustus, (who 
was indeed nothing but a mere printer,) dealt with the 
Devil. 

N. B. John Faustus was servant, or journeyman, or 
compositor, or what you please to call it, to Koster 
of Harlem, the first inventor of printing, and 
having printed the Psalter, sold them at Paris as 
manuscripts ; because as such they yielded a bet- 
ter price. 

But the learned doctors not being able to under- 
stand how the work was performed, concluded as above 
it was all the Devil, and that the man was a witch ; 
accordingly they took him up for a magician and a 
conjurer, and one that worked by the black art, that is 
to say, by the help of the Devil ; and, in a word, they 
threatened to hang him for a witch, and, in order to 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 347 

it, commenced a process against him in their criminal 
courts, which made such a noise in the world as raised 
the fame of poor John Faust us to a frightful height, till 
at last he was obliged, for fear of the gallows, to dis- 
cover the whole secret to them. 

N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. 
Faustus, or Foster, of whom we have believed such 
strange things, as that it is become a proverb, 'as 
great as the Devil and Dr. Foster :' whereas poor 
Faustus was no doctor, and knew no more of the 
Devil than another body. 

Thus the magistrates of Bern in Switzerland, finding 
a gang of French actors of puppet-show opened their 
stage in the town, upon hearing the surprising accounts 
which the people gave of their wonderful puppets, how 
they made them speak, answer questions, and discourse, 
appear and disappear in a moment, pop up here, as if 
they rise out of the earth, and down there, as if they 
vanished, and abundance more feats of art, censured 
them as demons; and if they had not packed up 
their trinkets, and disappeared almost as dexterously 
as their puppets, they had certainly condemned the 
poor puppets to the flames for devils, and censured, if 
not otherwise punished their masters. See the count 
de Rochfort's Memoirs, p. 179. 

Wonderful operations astonish the mind, especially 
where the head is not over-burdened with brains ; and 
custom has made it so natural to give the Devil either 
the honour or scandal of everything that we cannot 
otherwise account for, that it is not possible to put the 
people out of the road of it. 

The magicians were, in the Chaldean monarchy, 
called the wisemen ; and though they are joined with 
the sorcerers and astrologers in the same place, Daniel 
ii. 4, yet they were generally so understood among 
those people ; but in our language we understand 
them to be people that have an art to reveal secrets, 



348 THE MODERN 

interpret dreams, foretell events, &c, and that use en- 
chantments and sorceries, by all which we understand 
the same thing ; which now, in a more vulgar way, we 
express by one general coarse expression, ' dealing 
with the Devil.' 

The Scripture speaks of a spirit of divination, Acts 
xvi. 16, and a wench that was possessed by this spirit 
brought her master much gain by southsaying, that is 
to say, according to the learned, by oracling or answer- 
ing questions ; whence you will see in the margin, that 
this southsaying devil is there called Python, that is, 
Apollo, who is often called Python, and who, at the oracle 
of Delphos gave out such answers and double entendres, 
as this wench possibly did ; and hence all those spirits 
which were called spirits of divination, were in another 
sense called Pythons. 

Now when the apostle St. Paul came to see this 
creature, this spirit takes upon it to declare that those 
men, meaning St. Paul and Timotheus, were the ser- 
vants of the most high God, tvhich shewed unto them 
the way of salvation ; this was a good turn of the 
Devil, to preserve his authority in the possessed girl ; 
she brought them gain by southsaying, that is to say, 
resolving difficult questions, answering doubts, inter- 
preting dreams, &c. Among these doubts, he makes 
her give testimony to Paul and Timotheus, to wheedle 
in with the new Christians, and perhaps (though very 
ignorantly) even with Paul and Timotheus themselves, 
so to give a kind of credit and respect to her for 
speaking. 

But the Devil, who never speaks truth, but with 
some sinister end, was discovered here, and detected ; 
his flattering recognition not accepted, and he himself 
unkennelled as he deserved ; there the Devil was over- 
shot in his own bow again. 

Here now was a real possession, and the evil spirits 
who possessed her, did stoop to sundry little acts of 
servitude, that we could give little or no reason for, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 349 

only that the girl's master might get money by her ; 
but perhaps this was a particular case, and prepared to 
honour the authority and power the apostles had over 
evil spirits. 

But we find these things carried a great way further 
in many cases, that is to say, where the parties are 
thus really possessed ; namely, the Devil makes agents 
of the possessed parties to do many things for the pro- 
pagating his interest and kingdom, and particularly for 
the carrying on his dominion in the world : but I am 
for the present not so much upon the real possession 
as the pretended, and particularly we have had many 
that have believed themselves possessed, when the 
Devil never believed it of them, and perhaps knew 
them better ; some of these are really poor devils to be 
pitied, and are what I call diables imaginaire ; these 
have, notwithstanding, done the Devil good service, and 
brought their masters good gain by southsaying. 

We find possessions acknowledged in Scripture to 
be really and personally the Devil, or, according to the 
text, legions of devils, in the plural. The devil, or 
devils, rather, which possessed the man among the 
tombs, is positively affirmed to be the Devil in the 
Scripture ; all the evangelists agree in calling him so, 
and his very works show it ; namely, the mischief he 
did, as well to the poor creature among the tombs, 
who was made so fierce that he was the terror of all the 
country, as to the herd of swine and to the country in 
the loss of them. 

I might preach you a lecture here of the Devil's 
terror upon the approach of our Saviour, the dread of 
his government, and how he acknowledged that there 
was a time for his torment, which was not yet come : 
Art thou come to torment us before our time ? It is 
evident the Devil apprehended that Christ would chain 
them up before the day of judgment; and therefore 
some think the Devil here, being, as it were, caught 
out of his due bounds, possessing the poor man in such 



350 THE MODERN 

a furious manner, was afraid, and petitioned Christ not 
to chain him up for it, and as the text says, They besought 
him to suffer them to go away, fyc. ; that is to say, when 
they say, Art thou come to torment us before the time ? 
the meaning is, they begged he would not cast them 
into torment before the time, which was already fixed ; 
but that if he would cast them out of the man, he 
would let them go away, &c. 

The evangelist St. Luke says, The Devil besought 
him that he would not command them to go out into 
the deep : our learned annotators think that part is not 
rightly rendered ; adding, that they do not believe the 
Devil fears drowning ; but with submission, I believe 
the meaning is, that they would not be confined to the 
vast ocean, where, no inhabitants being to be seen, they 
would be effectually imprisoned and tied down from 
doing mischief, which would be a hell to them. As to 
their going into the swine, that might afford us some 
allegory ; but I am not disposed to jest with the Scrip- 
ture, no, nor with the Devil neither, further than needs 
must. 

It is evident the Devil makes use of very mean in- 
struments sometimes, such as the damsel possessed 
with a spirit of divination, and several others. 

I remember a story, how true I know not, of a weak 
creature next door to an idiot, who was established in 
the country for an oracle, and would tell people strange 
things that should be, long before they came to pass ; 
when people were sick, would tell them whether they 
should live or die ; if people were married, tell how 
many children they should have ; and a hundred such 
things, as filled the people with admiration, and they 
were the easier brought to believe that the girl was 
possessed ; but then they were divided about her too, 
and that was the finest-spun thread the Devil could 
work, for he carrried a great point in it ; some said she 
had a good spirit, and some a bad, some said she was 
a prophetess, and some that she was the Devil. 



HISTORY OP THE DEVIL. 35 1 

Now had I been there to decide the question, I 
should certainly have given it for the latter ; if it were 
only upon this account, namely, that the Devil has 
often found fools very necessary agents for the propa- 
gating his interest and kingdom, but we never knew 
the good spirits do so ; on the other hand, it does not 
seem likely that Heaven should deprive a poor creature 
of its senses, and as it were take her soul from her, 
and then make her an instrument of instruction to 
others, and an oracle to declare his decrees by ; this 
does not seem to be rational. 

But as far as this kind of divination is in use in our 
days, yet I do not find room to charge the Devil with 
making any great use of fools, unless it be such as he 
has particularly qualified for his work, for as to idiots 
and naturals, they are perfectly useless to him ; but a 
sort of fools called the magi, indeed, we have some 
reason to think he often works with. 

We are not arrived to a certainty yet, in the settling 
this great point, namely, what magic is? whether a 
diabolical art or a branch of the mathematics ? Our 
most learned Lexicon Technicum is of the latter opi- 
nion, and gives the magic square and the magic lan- 
tern, two terms of art. 

The magic square is when numbers in arithmetical 
proportion are disposed into such parallels or equal 
ranks, as that the sums of each row, as well diagonally 
as laterally shall be all equal ; for example, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these nine in a square of three, 
they will directly and diagonally make eighteen. Thus, 

This he calls the magic square, but 
gives no reason for the term, nor 
any account of what infernal ope- 
rations are wrought by this concur- 
rence of the numbers ; neither do I 
see that there can be any such use 
made of it. 



5 


|10 


3 


4 


1 6 


8 


9 


1 2 


7 



352 THE MODERN 

The magic lantern is an optic machine, by the 
means of which are represented, on a wall in the dark, 
many phantasms and terrible appearances, but no devil 
in all this, only that they are taken for the effects of 
magic, by those that are not acquainted with the 
secret. 

All this is done by the help of several little painted 
pieces of glass, only so and so situated, placed in 
certain oppositions to one another, and painted with 
different figures, the most formidable being placed 
foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying 
the spectators ; and by this all the figures may be re- 
presented upon the opposite wall, in the largest size. 

I cannot but take notice, that this very piece of 
optic delusion seems too much akin to the mock pos- 
sessions and infernal accomplishments, which most of 
the possessionists of this age pretend to, so that they 
are most of them mere phantasms and appearances, and 
no more ; nor is the spirit of divination, the magic, 
the necromancing, and other arts which were called 
diabolical, found to be of any use in modern practice, 
at least, in these parts of the world ; but the Devil 
seems to do most of his work himself, and by shorter 
methods ; for he has so complete an influence among 
those that he now lists in his service, that he brings all 
the common affairs of mankind into a narrower com- 
pass in his management, with a dexterity particular to 
himself, and by which he carries on his interest silently 
and surely, much more to the detriment of virtue and 
good government, and consequently much more to his 
satisfaction, than ever he did before. 

There is a kind of magic or sorcery, or what else 
you may please to call it, which, though unknown to 
us, is yet, it seems, still very much encouraged by the 
Devil ; but this is a great way off, and in countries 
where the politer instruments, which he finds here, are 
not to be had ; namely, among the Indians of North 
America ; this is called pawawing, and they have their 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 353 

divines, which they call pawaws or witches, who use 
strange gestures, distortions, horrid smokes, burnings, 
and scents, and several such things which the sorcerers 
and witches in ancient times are said to use in casting 
nativities, in philtres, and in determining, or as they 
pretended, directing, the fate of persons, by burning 
such and such herbs and roots, such as hellebore, 
wormwood, storax, devilwort, mandrake, nightshade, 
and abundance more such, which are called noxious 
plants, or the product of noxious plants ; also melting 
such and such minerals, gums, and poisonous things, and 
by several hellish mutterings and markings over them, 
the like do these pawaws ; and the Devil is pleased, it 
seems, (or is permitted,) to fall in with these things, 
and as some people think, appears often to them for 
their assistance upon those occasions. 

But be that as it will, he is eased of all that trouble 
here ; he can pawaw here himself, without their aid, 
and having laid them all aside, he negotiates much of 
his business without ambassadors ; he is his own ple- 
nipotentiary, for he finds man so easy to come at, and 
so easy when he is come at, that he stands in no need 
of secret emissaries, or at least not so much as he used 
to do. 

Upon the whole, as the world, within the compass 
of a few past years, is advanced in all kinds of know- 
ledge and arts, and every useful branch of what they 
k,new before improved, and innumerable useful parts 
of knowledge, which were concealed before, are dis- 
covered, why should we think the Devil alone should 
stand at a stay, has taken no steps to his further ac- 
complishment, and made no useful discoveries in his 
way ? that he alone should stand at a stay, and be just 
the same unimproved devil that he was before ? No, 
no, as the world is improved every day, and every age 
is grown wiser and wiser than their fathers ; so, no 
doubt, he has bestirred himself too, in order to an in- 
crease of knowledge and discovery, and that he finds 
ji. d. a a 



354 THE MODERN 

every day a nearer way to go to work with mankind 
than he had before. 

Besides, as men in general seem to have altered 
their manner, and that they move in a higher and 
more exalted sphere, especially as to vice and virtue, 
so the Devil may have been obliged to change his 
measures, and alter his way of working ; particularly, 
those things which would take in former times, and 
which a stupid age would come easily into, won't go 
down with us now : as the taste of vice and virtue 
alters, the Devil is forced to bait his hook with new 
compositions ; the very thing called temptation is 
altered in its nature, and that which served to delude 
our ancestors, whose gross conceptions of things caused 
them to be manageable with less art, will not do now ; 
the case is quite altered ; in some things, perhaps, as I 
hinted above, we come into crime with ease, and may 
be led by a finger ; but when we come to a more re- 
fined way of sinning, which our ancestors never under- 
stood, other and more refined politics must be made 
use of, and the Devil has been put upon many useful 
projects and inventions, to make many new discoveries 
and experiments to carry on his affairs; and, to speak 
impartially, he is strangely improved either in know- 
ledge or experiment, within these few years ; he has 
found out a great many new inventions to shorten his 
own labour, and carry on his business in the world 
currently, which he never was master of before, or at 
least we never knew he was. 

No wonder then that he has changed hands too, and 
that he has left off pawawing in these parts of the 
world ; that we don't find our houses disturbed as they 
used to be, and the stools and chairs walking about 
out of one room into another, as formerly ; that 
children don't vomit crooked pins and rusty stub nails, 
as of old, the air is not full of noises, nor the church- 
yard full of hobgoblins ; ghosts don't walk about in 
winding-sheets, and the good old scolding wives visit 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 355 

and plague their husbands after they are dead, as they 
did when they were alive. 

The age is grown too wise to be agitated by these 
dull scarecrow things which their forefathers were 
tickled with ; Satan has been obliged to lay by his 
puppet-shows and his tumblers, those things are grown 
stale ; his morrice -dancing devils, his mountebanking 
and quacking won't do now ; those things, as they may 
be supposed to be very troublesome to him, (and but 
that he has servants enough, would be chargeable too) 
are now of no great use in the new management of his 
affairs. 

In a word, men are too much devils themselves, in 
the sense that I have called them so, to be frighted 
with such little low-prized appearances as these ; they 
are better acquainted with the old archangel than so, 
and they seem to tell him they must be treated after 
another manner, and that then, as they are good- 
natured and tractable, he may deal with them upon 
better terms. 

Hence the Devil goes to work with mankind a much 
shorter way ; for instead of the art of wheedling and 
whining, together with the laborious part of tricking and 
sharping, hurrying and driving, frightening and terrify- 
ing, all which the Devil was put to the trouble of before ; 
in short, he acts the ' grand manner', as the architects 
call it : I don't know whether our freemasons may un- 
derstand the word, and therefore I may hereafter ex- 
plain it, as it is to be diabolically as well as mathema- 
tically understood. 

At present my meaning is, he acts with them imme- 
diately and personally by a magnificent transformation, 
making them mere devils to themselves, upon all need- 
ful occasions, and devils to one another too, whenever 
he (Satan) has need of their service. 

This way of embarking mankind in the Devil's par- 
ticular engagement, is really very modern ; and though 
the Devil himself may have been long acquainted with 

Aa2 



356 THE MODERN 

the method, and, as I have heard, began to practise it 
towards the close of the Roman empire, when men 
began to act upon very polite principles, and were ca- 
pable of the most refined wickedness, and afterwards 
with some popes, who likewise were a kind of church 
devils, such as Satan himself could hardly expect to 
find in the world ; yet I do not find that he was ever 
able to bring it into practice, at least not so universally 
as he does now. But now the case is altered, and men 
being generally more expert in wickedness than they 
were formerly, they suffer the smaller alteration of 
the species, in being transmigrated ; in a word, they 
turn into devils with no trouble at all hardly, either to 
the Devil or to themselves. 

This particular would want much the less explana- 
tion, could I obtain a license from sir Hellebore 
Wormwood, bart., or from my lord Thwartover, baron 
of Scoundrel Hall, in the kingdom of Ireland, to write 
the true history of their own conduct ; and how early, 
and above all how easily, they commenced devils, with- 
out the least impeachment of their characters as wise 
men, and without any diminution of that part of their 
denomination which established them for fools. 

How many mad fellows appear among us every day 
in the critical juncture of their transmigration, just 
when they have so much of the man left as to be 
known by their names, and enough of the Devil taken 
up to settle their characters ! This easiness of the 
Devil's access to these people, and the great conveni- 
ence it is to him in his general business, is a proof to 
me that he has no more occasion of diviners, magicians, 
sorcerers, and whatever else we please to call those 
people who were formerly so great with him ; for what 
occasion has he to employ devils and wizards to con- 
found mankind, when he is arrived to such a perfec- 
tion of art as to bring men, at least in these parts of 
the world, to do it all themselves. Upon this account, 
we do not find any of the old sorcerers and diviners, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. So7 3 

magicians or witches, appear among us ; not that the 
Devil might not be as well able to employ such people as 
formerly, and qualify them for the employment too, 
but that really there is no need of them hereabout, the 
Devil having a shorter way, and mankind being much 
more easily possessed ; not the old herd of swine were 
sooner agitated, though there was full two thousand of 
them together ; nature has opened the door, and the 
Devil has egress and regress at pleasure, so that 
witches and diviners are quite out of the question. 

Nor let any man be alarmed at this alteration in 
the case, as it stands between mankind and the Devil, 
and think the Devil having gained so much ground, 
may in time, by encroachment, come to a general pos- 
session of the whole race, and so we should all come to 
be devils incarnate. I say, let us not be alarmed, for 
Satan does not get these advantages by encroachment, 
and by his infernal power or art ; no, not at all ; but 
it is the man himself does it by his indolence and neg- 
ligence on one hand, and his complaisance to the Devil 
on the other ; and both ways he, as it were, opens the 
door to him, beckons him with his very hand to come 
in, and the Devil has nothing to do but enter and 
take possession. Now if it be so, and man is so 
frank to him, you know the Devil is no fool not to 
take the advantage when it is offered him, and there- 
fore it is no wonder if the consequences which I have 
been just now naming follow. 

But let no man be discouraged by this, from reas- 
suming his natural and religious powers, and venturing 
to shut the Devil out ; for the case is plain he may be 
shut out ; the soul is a strong castle, and has a good 
garrison placed within to defend it ; if the garrison be- 
have well, and do their duty, it is impregnable, and 
the cowardly Devil must raise his siege and be gone ; 
nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his escape, 
lest he be laid by the heels, that is, lest his weakness 
be exposed, and all his lurking, lying in wait, ambus 



358 THE MODERN 

cade-tricks. This part would bear a great enlargement, 
bat I have not room to be witty upon him, so you 
must take it in the gross ; the Devil lies at Blye Bush, 
as our country people call it, to watch you coming out 
of your hold ; and if you happen to go abroad un- 
armed, he seizes upon and masters you with ease. 

Unarmed ; you'll say, what arms should I take ? 
what fence against a flail ? what weapons can a man 
take to fight the Devil ? I could tell you what to fight 
him with, and what you might fright him with, for the 
Devil is to be frightened with several things besides 
holy water ; but it is too serious for you, and you will tell 
me I am a preaching and a canting, and the like ; so I 
must let the Devil manage you rather than displease 
you with talking Scripture and religion. 

Well, but may not the Devil be fought with some of 
his own weapons ? Is there no dealing with him in a 
way of human nature ? This would require a long 
answer, and some philosophy might be acted, or at 
least imitated, and some magic ? perhaps ; for they tell 
us there are spells to draw away even the Devil him- 
self; as, in some places, they nail horseshoes upon the 
threshold of the door to keep him out ; in other places, 
old pieces of flint, with so many holes, and so many 
corners, and the like. But I must answer in the nega- 
tive ; I don't know what Satan might be scared at in 
those days, but he is either grown cunninger since 
or bolder, for he values none of those things now ; I 
question much whether he would value St. Dunstan 
and his redhot tongs if he was to meet him now, or 
St. Francis, or any of the saints, no, not the host itself, 
in full procession ; and, therefore, though you don't 
care I should preach, yet, in short, if you are afraid he 
should charge upon you and attack you, if you won't 
make use of those Scripture weapons I should 
have mentioned, and which you may hear of, if you 
inquire at Eph. vi. 16, you must look for better 
where you think you can find them. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 359 

But to go on with my work; the Devil, I say, is not 
to be scared with maukins ; nor does he employ his old 
instruments, but does much of his work himself, with- 
out instruments. 

And yet I must enter a caveat here too, against 
being misunderstood in my saying the Devil stands in 
need of no agents ; for, when I speak so, I am to be 
taken in a limited sense. I don't say he needs them 
nowhere, but only that he does not need them in 
those polite parts of the world which I have been 
speaking of, and, perhaps, not much here ; but in 
many remote countries it is otherwise still ; the In- 
dians of America are particularly said to have witches 
among them, as well in those countries where the 
Spaniards, and the English, and other nations, have 
planted themselves, as amongst those where the Euro- 
pean nations seldom come : for example, the people of 
Canada, that is, of the countries under the French 
government of Quebec, the Esquimeaux, and other 
northern climates, have magicians, wizards, and witches, 
who they call Pilloatas, or Pillotoas ; these pretend 
they speak intimately and familiarly with the Devil, 
and receive from him the knowledge of things to 
come ; all which, by the way, I take to be little more 
than this, that these fellows being a little more cun- 
ning than the rest, think, that by pretending to some- 
thing more than human, they shall make the stronger 
impressions on the ignorant people ; as Mahomet 
amused the world with his pigeon, using it to pick 
peas out of his ear, and persuaded the people it 
brought him superior revelations and inspirations from 
Paradise. 

Thus these Pillotoas, gaining an opinion among the 
people, behave like so many mountebanks of hell, pre- 
tending to understand dark things, cure diseases, prac- 
tise surgery, physic, and necromancy altogether. I 
will not say but Satan may pick out such tools to work 
with, and I believe does in those parts, but I think he 



360 THE MODERN 

has found a nearer way to the wood with us, and that, 
is sufficient to my present purpose. 

Some would persuade me the Devil had a great 
hand in the late religious breaches in France, among 
the clergy, viz., about the pope's constitution Unigen- 
itus, and that he made a fair attempt to set the pope 
and the Gallican church together by the ears, for they 
were all just upon the point of breaking out into a 
church war, that, for aught we knew, might have gone 
further than the Devil himself cared it should. Now I 
am of the quite contrary opinion ; I believe the Devil 
really did not make the breach, but rather healed it, 
for fear it should have gone so far among them as to 
have set them all in a flame, and have opened the door 
to the return of the Huguenots again, which it was in 
a fair way to have done. r 

But be it one way or t'other, the historical part 
seems to be a little against me ; for it is certain the 
Devil both wanted and made use of legions of agents, 
as well human as infernal, visible and invisible, in that 
great and important affair, and we cannot doubt but 
he has innumerable instruments still at work about it. 

Like as in Poland, I make no question but the Devil 
has thousands of his banditti at work at this time, and 
in another country not far from it, perhaps, preparing 
matters for the next general Diet, taking care to pre- 
vent giving any relaxation to the protestants, and to 
justify the moderate executions at Thorn ; to excite a 
nation to quarrel with everybody, who are able to fight 

with nobody ; to erect the apostate race of S y 

upon a throne which they have no title to, and turn 
an elective throne into an hereditary, in favour of 
popery. 

I might anticipate all your objections, by granting 
the busy Devil at this time employing all his agents 
and instruments, (for I never told you they were idle 
and useless,) in striving to inflame the Christian world, 
and bring a new war to overspread Europe ; I might, 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 361 

perhaps, point out to you some of the measures he 
takes, the provocatives which his state physicians ad- 
minister to the courts and counsellors of princes, to fo- 
ment and ferment the spirits and members of nations, 
kingdoms, empires, and states, in the world, in order 
to bring these glorious ends of blood and war to pass ; 
for you cannot think but he that knows so much of the 
Devil's affairs as to write his history, must know some- 
thing of all these matters more than those that do not 
know so much as he. 

But all this is remote to the present case, for this is 
no impeachment of Satan's new methods with mankind 
in this part of the world, and in his private and sepa- 
rate capacity ; all this only signifies that, in his more 
general and national affairs, the Devil acts still by his 
old methods ; and when he is to seduce or embroil 
nations, he, like other conquerors, subdues them by 
armies, employs mighty squadrons of devils, and sends 
out strong detachments, with generals and generalis- 
simos to lead them, some to one part of the world, 
Some to another, some to influence one nation, some to 
manage and direct another, according as business pre- 
sents, and his occasions require, that his affairs may be 
carried on currently and to his satisfaction. 

If it were not thus, but that the Devil, by his new 
and exquisite management, of which I have said so 
much, had brought mankind in general to be the agents 
of their own mischiefs, and that the world were so at 
his beck that he need but command them to go and 
fight, declare war, raise armies, destroy cities, king- 
doms, countries, and people, the world would be a field 
of blood indeed, and all things would run into con- 
fusion presently. 

But this is not the case at all ; Heaven has not let go 
the government of the creation to his subdued enemy, 
the Devil ; that would overturn the whole system of 
God, and give Satan more power than ever he was or 
will be vested with. When, therefore, I speak of a few 



362 THE MODERN 

forward wretches in our day, who are so warm in their 
wickedness that they anticipate the Devil, save him 
the trouble to tempt, turn devils to themselves, and 
gallop hellward faster than he drives, I speak of them 
as single persons, and acting in their own personal and 
private capacity ; but when I speak of nations and 
kingdoms, there the Devil is obliged to go on in the 
old road, and act by stratagem, by his proper ma- 
chinery, and to make use of all his arts and all his 
agents, just as he has done in all ages, from the begin- 
ning of his politic government to this day. 

And if it was not thus, too, what would become of 
all his numberless legions, of which all ages have heard 
so much, and all parts of the world have had so much, 
fatal experience ? They would seem to be quite out of 
employment, and be rendered useless in the world of 
spirits, where it is to be supposed they reside ; not the 
Devil himself could find any business for them, which, 
by the way, to busy and mischievous spirits as they 
are, would be a hell to them, even before their time ; 
they would be, as it were, doomed to a state of inacti- 
vity, which, we may suppose, was one part of their 
expulsion from blessedness and the creation of man; or 
as they were for the surprising interval between the 
destruction of mankind by the deluge and Noah's 
coming out of the ark, when, indeed, they might be 
said to have had nothing at all to do. 

But this is not Satan's case ; and therefore let me 
tell you, too, (that you may not think I treat the case 
with more levity than I really do, and than, I am sure, 
I intend to do,) though it is too true that our modern 
and modish sinners have arrived to more exquisite 
ways of being wicked than their fathers, and really 
seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to tempt them ; 
nay, that they do Satan's work for him as to others 
also, and make themselves devils to their neighbours, 
tempting others to crime even faster than the Devil 
desires them, running before they are sent, and going 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 363 

ol the Devil's errands gratis ; by which means Satan's 
work is, as to them, done to his hand, and they may be 
said to save him a great deal of trouble ; yet, after all, 
the Devil has still a great deal of business upon his 
hands, and, as well himself as all his legions, find them- 
selves a full employment in disturbing the world, and 
opposing the glory and kingdom of their great superior ; 
whose kingdom it is their whole business, however vain 
in its end, to overthrow and destroy, if they were able, 
or, at least, to endeavour it. 

This being the case, it follows, of course, that the 
general mischiefs of mankind, as well national and 
public as family mischiefs, and even personal, (except 
as before excepted,) lie all still at the Devil's door as 
much as ever, let his advocates bring him off of it if 
they can. And this brings us back again to the 
manner of the Devil's management, and the way of his 
working by human agents, or, if you will, the way of 
human devils working in affairs of low life, such as we 
call divination, sorcery, black art, necromancy, and the 
like ; all which I take to consist of two material parts, 
and both very necessary for us to be rightly in- 
formed of. 

1 . The part which Satan by himself, or his inferior 
devils, empowers such people to do as he is in 
confederacy with here on earth ; to whom he may 
be said, like the master of an opera or comedy, 
to give their parts to act, and to qualify them to 
act it ; whether he obliges them to a rehearsal in 
his presence, to try their talents, and see that they 
are capable of performing, that indeed I have not 
inquired into. 

2. That part which these empowered people do vo- 
lunteer for beyond their commission, to show their 
diligence in the service of their new master, and 
either, 1. to bring grist to their own mill, and make 
their market of their employment in the best 



364 THE MODERN 

manner they can ; or 2. to gain applause, be ad- 
mired, wondered at, and applauded, as if they 
were ten times more devils than really they are. 

In a word, the matter consists of what the Devil does 
by the help of these people, and what they do in his 
name without him. The Devil is sometimes cheated 
in his own business ; there are pretenders to witchcraft 
and black art who Satan never made any bargain with, 
but who he connives at, because, at least, they do his 
cause no harm ; though their business is rather to get 
money than to render him any service, of which I gave 
you a remarkable instance before. 

But to go back to his real agents, of which I reckon 
two. 

1. Those who act by direction and confederacy, as I 
have said already many do. 

2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (per- 
haps) know it not, of which sort history gives us 
plenty of examples, from Machiavel's first disciple 

to the famous cardinal Alberoni, and even 

to some more modern than his eminence, of 
whom I can say no more till further occasion 
offers. 

1. Those who act by immediate direction of the 
Devil, and in confederacy with him ; these are such as 
I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, whose 
arts are truly black, because really infernal. It will be 
very hard to decide the dispute between those who 
really act thus in confederacy with the Devil, and 
those who only pretend to it ; so I shall leave that dis- 
pute where I find it ; but that there are, or at least 
have been, a set of people in the world, who really are 
of his acquaintance, and very intimate with him ; and 
though, as I have said, he has much altered his 
schemes, and changed hands of late ; yet that there are 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 365 

such people, perhaps of all sorts, and that the Devil 
keeps up his correspondence with them, I must not 
venture to deny that part, lest I bring upon me the 
whole posse of the conjuring and bewitching crew, 
male and female, and they should mob me for pre- 
tending to deny them the honour of dealing with the 
Devil, which they are so exceeding willing to have the 
fame of. 

Not that I am hereby obliged to believe all the 
strange things the witches and wizards, who have been 
allowed to be such, nay, who have been hanged for it, 
have said of themselves ; nay, that they have confessed 
of themselves, even at the gallows; and if I come to have 
an occasion to speak freely of the matter, I may perhaps 
convince you that the Devil's possessing power is much 
lessened of late, and that he either is limited, and his 
fetter shortened more than it has been, or that he does 
not find the old way, as I said before, so fit for his purpose 
as he did formerly, and therefore takes other measures: 
but I must adjourn that to a time and place by itself. 
But we are told that there are another sort of people, 
and, perhaps, a great many of them too, in whom and 
by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not. 

It would take up a great deal of time and room, too 
much for this place, so near the close of this work, to 
describe and mark out the involuntary devils which 
there are in the world ; of whom it may be truly said, 
that really the Devil is in them, and they know it not. 
Now though the Devil is cunning and managing, and 
can be very silent where he finds it for his interest not 
to be known ; yet it is very hard for him to conceal 
himself, and to give so little disturbance in the house, 
as that the family should not know who lodged in it ; 
yet, I say, the Devil is so subtle and so mischievous 
an agent, that he uses all manner of methods and craft 
to reside in such people as he finds for his purpose, 
whether they will or no, and, which is more, whether 
they know it or no. 



366 THE MODERN 

And let none of my readers be angry, or think them- 
selves ill used, when I tell them the Devil may be in 
them, and may act them, and by them, and they not 
know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of 
the greatest pieces of human wisdom in the world, for 
a man to know when the Devil is in him, and when 
not ; when he is a tool and agent of hell, and when he 
is not ; in a word, when he is doing the Devil's work, 
and under his direction, and when not. 

It is true, this is a very weighty point, and might 
deserve to be handled in a more serious way than I 
seem to be talking in all this book ; but give me leave 
to talk of things my own way, and withal, to tell you 
that there is no part of this work so seemingly lu- 
dicrous, but a grave and well-weighed mind may make 
a serious and solid application of it, if they please : 
nor is there any part of this work, in which a clear 
sight and a good sense may not see that the author's 
design is, that they should do so ; and as I am now so 
near the end of my book, I thought it was meet to tell 
you so, and lead you to it as far as I can. 

I say, it is a great part of human wisdom to know 
when the Devil is acting in us and by us, and when 
not ; the next, and still greater part, would be to pre- 
vent him, put a stop to his progress, bid him go about 
his business, and let him know he should carry on his 
designs no further in that manner ; that we will be his 
tools no longer ; in short, to turn him out of doors, 
and bring a stronger power to take possession; but 
this, indeed, is too solid a subject, and too great to begin 
with here. 

But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work 
with us ; I say, this, though it is considerable, may be 
done, nor is it so very difficult : for example, you have 
no more to do but look a little into the microcosm of 
the soul, and see there how the passions, which are the 
blood, and the affections, which are the spirit, move in 
their particular vessels ; how they circulate, and in 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 367 

what temper the pulse beats there, and you may easily 
see who turns the wheel. If a perfect calm possesses 
the soul ; if peace and temper prevail, and the mind 
feels no tempests rising ; if the affections are regular, 
and exalted to virtuous and sublime objects; the spirits 
cool, and the mind sedate, the man is in a general 
rectitude of mind ; he may be truly said to be his own 
man ; heaven shines upon his soul with its benign in- 
fluences, and he is out of the reach of the evil spirit ; 
for the divine spirit is an influence of peace, all calm 
and bright, happy and sweet like itself, and tending to 
everything that is good both present and future. 

But on the other hand, if at any time the mind is 
ruffled, if vapours rise, clouds gather, if passions swell 
the breast, if anger, envy, revenge, hatred, wrath, 
strife ; if these, or any of these, hover over you ; much 
more, if you feel them within you ; if the affections are 
possessed, and the soul hurried down the stream to em- 
brace low and base objects ; if those spirits, which are 
the life and enlivening powers of the soul, are drawn 
off to parties, and to be engaged in a vicious and cor- 
rupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked desires, 
and running the man headlong into crime, the case is 
easily resolved, the man is possessed, the Devil is in 
him ; and having taken the fort, or at least the coun- 
terscarp and outworks, is making his lodgment to 
cover and secure himself in his hold, that he may not 
be dispossessed. 

Nor can he be easily dispossessed when he has got 
such hold as this ; and it is no wonder that, being 
lodged thus upon the outworks of the soul, he continues 
to sap the foundation of the rest, and by his incessant 
and furious assaults, reduces the man at last to a sur- 
render. 

If the allegory be not as just and apposite as you 
would have it be, you may, however, see by it, in a full 
view, the state of the man, and how the Devil carries 
on his designs ; nothing is more common, and I be- 



368 THE MODERN 

lieve there are few thinking minds but may reflect 
upon it in their own compass, than for our passions 
and affections to flow out of the ordinary channel ; the 
spirits and blood of the soul to be extravasated, the 
passions grow violent and outrageous, the affections 
impetuous, corrupt, and violently vicious. Whence 
does all this proceed ? from heaven we cannot pretend it 
comes ; if we must not say it is the Devil, whose door 
must it lie at ? Pride swells the passions ; avarice 
moves the affections ; and what is pride, and what is 
avarice, but the Devil in the inside of the man ? ay, 
as personally and really as ever he was in the herd of 
swine. 

Let not any man then, who is a slave to his passions, 
or who is chained down to his covetousness, pretend 
to take it ill, when I say he has the Devil in him, or that 
he is a devil : what else can it be, and how comes it to 
pass that passion and revenge so often dispossess the 
man of himself, as to lead him to commit murder, to 
lay plots and snares for the life of his enemies, and so 
to thirst for blood, how comes this but by the Devil's 
putting those spirits of the soul into so violent a fer- 
ment, into a fever ? that the circulation is precipitated 
to that degree, and that the man too is precipitated 
into mischief, and at last into ruin ? it is all the Devil, 
though the man does not know it. 

In like manner, avarice leads him to rob, plunder, 
and destroy for money, and to commit sometimes the 
worst of violences to obtain the wicked reward. How 
many have had their throats cut for their money, have 
been murdered on the highway, or in their beds, for 
the desire of what they had ! It is the same thing in 
other articles, every vice is the Devil in a man ; lust 
of rule is the devil of great men, and that ambition is 

their devil, as much as whoring is father 's devil; 

one has a devil of one class acting him, one another, 
and every man's reigning vice is a devil to him. 

Thus the Devil has his involuntary instruments, as 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 369 

well as those who act in confederacy with him ; he has 
a very great share in many of us, and acts us, and in 
us, unknown to ourselves, though we know nothing of 
it, and indeed though we may not suspect it of our- 
selves ; like Hazael the Assyrian, who when the pro- 
phet told him how he would act the devil upon the 
poor Israelites, answered with detestation, Is thy ser 
vant a dog, that he should do this thing ? and yet he 
was that dog, and did all those cruel things for all that; 
the Devil acting him, or acting in him, to make him 
wickeder than ever he thought it was possible for him 
to be. 



h. o. b b 



370 THE MODERN 



THE CONCLUSION. 

Of the DeviVs last scene of liberty, and what may be 
supposed to be his end, with what we are to under- 
stand of his being tormented for ever and ever. 

As the Devil is a prince of the power of the air, his 
kingdom is mortal, and must have an end ; and as he 
is called the god of this world, that is, the great 
usurper of the homage and reverence which mankind 
ought of right to pay to their Maker, so his usurpation 
also, like the world itself, must have an end : Satan is 
called the God of the world, as men too much prostrate 
and prostitute themselves to him, yet he is not the 
governor of this world ; and therefore the homage and 
worship he has from the world, is an usurpation ; and 
this will have an end because the world itself will have 
an end ; and all mankind, as they had a beginning in 
time, so must expire and be removed before the end 
of time. 

Since, then, the Devil's empire is to expire and come 
to an end, and that the Devil himself and all his host 
of devils are immortal seraphs, spirits that are not em- 
bodied, and cannot die, but are to remain in being ; the 
question before us next will be, what is to become of 
him ? what is his state to be ? whither is he to 
wander, and in what condition is he to remain to that 
eternity to which he is still to exist ? 

I hope no man will mistake me so much in what I 
have said as to spirits, which are all flame, not being 
affected with fire, as if I supposed there was no place 
of punishment for the Devil, nor any kind of punish- 
ment that could affect them ; and so of our spirits also, 
when transformed into flame. 

I must be allowed to speak there of that material 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 371 

fire, by which, as by an allegory, all the terrors of an 
eternal state are represented to us in Scripture, and in 
the writings of the learned commentators, and by 
which the pain of sense is described ; this, perhaps. I 
do not understand as they seem to do, and therefore 
have said, 

When we are all flame (that is all spirit) we shall all 
fire (that is, all such fire as this) despise. And thus 
I claim to be understood. 

It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest 
or so much as think that infinite power cannot form a 
something (though inconceivable to us here) which 
shall be as tormenting and as insupportable to a devil, 
an apostate seraph, and to a spirit, though exalted, un- 
embodied and rarified into flame, as fire would be to 
other bodies ; in which I think I am orthodox, and do 
not give the least occasion to an enemy to charge me 
with profane speaking in those words, or to plead 
for thinking profanely himself. 

It must be atheistical to the last degree to suggest, 
that whereas the Devil has been heaping up and amass- 
ing guilt ever since the creation of man, increasing in 
hatred of God and rebellion against him, and in all 
possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty 
of heaven, that yet Heaven had not prepared, or could 
not prepare, a just penalty for him ; and that it 
should not all end in God's entire victory over hell, 
and in Satan's open condemnation. Heaven could not 
be just to its own glory, if he should not avenge him- 
self upon this rebel, for all his superlative wickedness 
in his modern as well as ancient station ; for the blood 
of so many millions of his faithful subjects and saints 
whom he has destroyed ; and if nothing else offered it- 
self to prove this part, it would appear undoubted to 
me; but this, I confess, does not belong to Satan's 
history, and therefore I have reserved it to this place, 
and shall also be the shorter in it. 

That his condition is to be a state of punishment, 



372 THE MODERN. 

and that by torment, the Devil himself has owned ; and 
his calling out to our blessed Lord when he cast him 
out of the furious man among the tombs, is a proof of 
it ; What have we to do with thee, and art thou come to 
torment us before the time ? Luke viii. 28 ; where the 
Devil acknowledges four things, and three of them are 
directly to my present purpose, and if you won't believe 
the Word of God. I hope you will believe the Devil, 
especially when it is an open confession against himself. 

1. He confessed Christ to be the Son of God (that 
by the way) and no thanks to him, for that does not 
want the Devil's evidence. 

2. He acknowledges he may be tormented. 

3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment 
him. 

4. He acknowledges that there is a time appointed 
when he shall be tormented. 

As to how, in what manner, and by what means, 
this tormenting the Devil is to be performed or exe- 
cuted, that I take to be as needless to us as it is im- 
possible to know, and being not at present inclined to 
fill your heads and thoughts with weak and imperfect 
guesses, I leave it where I find it. 

It is enough to us that this torment of the Devil is 
represented to us by fire, it being impossible for our 
confined thoughts to conceive of torment by anything 
in the world more exquisite ; whence I conclude, that 
devils shall at last receive a punishment suitable to 
their spirituous nature, and as exquisitely tormenting 
as a burning fire would be to our bodies. 

Having thus settled my own belief of this matter, 
and stated it so as I think will let you see it is rightly 
founded, the matter stands thus : 

Satan having been let loose to play his game in this 
world, has improved his time to the utmost ; he has 
not failed on all occasions to exert his hatred, rage, 
and malice, at his conqueror and enemy, namely, his 
Maker ; he has not failed, from principles of mere envy 



HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 373 

and pride, to pursue mankind with all possible rancour, 
in order to deprive him of the honour and felicity 
which he was created for, namely, to succeed the 
Devil and his angels in the state of glory from which 
they fell. 

This hatred of God, and envy at man, having broken 
out in so many several ways in the whole series of 
time from the creation, must necessarily have greatly 
increased his guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to 
judge him, must terminate in an increase of punish- 
ment, adequate to his crime, and sufficient to his 
nature. 

Some have suggested, that there is yet a time to 
come, when the Devil shall exert more rage, and do 
more mischief than ever yet he has been permitted to 
do ; whether he shall break his chain, or be unchained 
for a time, they cannot tell, nor I neither ; and it is 
happy for my work, that even this part too does not belong 
to his history ; if ever it shall be given an account of 
by mankind, it must be after it is come to pass, for my 
part is not prophecy, or foretelling what the Devil shall 
do, but history of what he has done. 

Thus, good people, I have brought the history of 
the Devil down to your own times ; I have, as it were, 
raised him for you, and set him in your view, that you 
may know him, and have a care of him. 

If any cunninger men among you think they are 
able now to lay him again, and so dispose of him out 
of your sight, that you shall be troubled no more with 
him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work 
with him their own way ; you know things future do 
not belong to an historian, so I leave him among you, 
wishing you may be able to give no worse an account 
of him for the time to come, than I have done for the 
time past. 

THE END OF THE HISTORY OF THE DEVEL. 

OXFORD : PRINTED BY D. A. TALBOYS. 



